
Class. 
Book. 



^^ 



.£^3 



(5/5 



SIX MONTHS 



IN THE GOLD MINES: 



FKOM A JOURNAL 



m "^fars^ HeaihtntE 



UPPER AND LOWER CALIFORNIA. 



1847-8-9. 



BY E. GOULD BUFFUM, 

LIEUTENANT FIRST REGIMENT NEW YORK VOLUNTEERS. 




PHILADELPHIA: 

LEA AND BLANCHARD. 

18 50. 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S50, 

BY LEA AND BLANCHARD, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Eastern District of 
Pennsylvania. 






pniLADELPniA: 

C. SHERMAN, PRINTER. 



JOHN CHARLES FREMONT, 



THE UNITED STATES SENATOR 



FIRST CHOSEN TO REPRESENT THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA 



THE HISTORY 



OF WHOSE INVALUABLE PIONEER LABOURS 



WILL ENDURE AS LONG AS THE MOUNTAINS, VALLEYS, AND PLAINS 



WHICH HIS COURAGE AND INDOMITABLE ENTERPRISE EXPLORED, 



jl i 3 Mtmnxi^l n f %intninttj 

BY PERMISSION, 

IS MOST RESPECTTULLY INSCRIBED, 

BY 

THE AUTHOR. 



PUBLISHEKS' NOTICE. 



The pages of this work, in consequence of the public 
interest in all that appertains to California, have been 
hurried through the press, without the revision expected 
bj the author ; there may be, therefore, some slight errors 
detected through the pages. The writer of the work, for- 
merly connected intimately with the New York press, has 
been a resident and explorer of California for more than 
three years, and still remains there. The proof sheets 
could not, therefore, well be submitted to his revision. 

Philadelphia, May, 1850. 



CONTENTS, 



Inteoduction, -.-1----- 13 

CHAPTER I. 

Departure for tlie Mines — The Victims — Adventures of a Night on 
San Francisco Bay — Voyage in a Launch — My Companion Higgins 
— Resolutions of the Passengers — The Bay of San Pablo — The 
Straits of Carquinez — Benicia — The Bay of Suisun — The Sacramento 
— Beautiful Scenery — Montezuma — Monte Diablo — Camp on Shore — 
Hala-chum-muck — Firing the Woods — Schwartz's Rancho — A "ma- 
nifest destiny" Man — ^Involuntary Baptism — Sacramento City — The 
Embarcadero, --------- 25 

CHAPTER II. 

Arrival of our Party — The Mountaineer — A "prospecting" Expedition 
— The Start — California Skies in November — A Drenching — Go-ahead 
Higgins — "Camp Beautiful" — John the Irishman — The Indian's 
Grave — A "rock" Speech — The Return — Herd of Antelope — John- 
son's Rancho — Acorn Gathering — Indian Squaws — Novel Costume — 
The Rancheria — Pule-u-le — A Bear Fight, - - - - g5 

CHAPTER III. 

Yuba River — A Clean Shirt an Expensive Luxury — Yankee Pedler — 
The Upper and Lower Diggings — Foster's Bar — The Gold-Rocker — 
Gold-Digging and Gold-Washing — Return to the Embarcadero — Cap- 
tain John A. Sutter — Curious Currency — Sutter's Fort — Sam Brannan 



CONTENTS. 

and Co. — Wasliing Clothes — Salmon Shooting — Green Springs — 
Weaver's Creek — A Teamster's Bill. 49 



CHAPTER IV. 

Our Log Cabin — Pi-pita-tua — Increase of our Party — The Dry Diggings 
of "Weaver's Creek — The "Pockets" and "Nests" — Theory of the Gold 
Region — My First Day's Labour in the Placers — Extravagant Reports 
from the Middle Fork — Start for Culoma — Approach of the Rainy 
Season— The " Devil's Pupch-Bowl," 59 



CHAPTER V. 

Sutter's Mill — Discovery of the Placers — Marshall and Bennett — Great 
Excitement — Desertion of the Pueblos, and general Rush for the 
Mines — Gold-Mine Prices — Descent into a Canoji — Banks of the Mid- 
dle Fork — Pan Washing — Good Luck — Our Camp — Terrific Rain 
Storm — Sudden Rise of the River, - ' - - - - 67 



CHAPTER YL 

Mormon Exploration of the Middle Fork — Headquarters of the Gold- 
hunters — The North Fork — Smith's Bar — Damming — Great Luck of a 
Frenchman and his Son — Kelsey's Bar — Rise and Fall of the Rivers — 
Return to Weaver's Creek — Agricultural Prospects — Culoma Saw- 
mill — An Extensive and Expensive Breakfast — "Prospecting" on the 
South Fork — Winter Quarters — Snow-storm — A Robbery — Summary 
Justice — Garcia, Bissi, and Manuel — Lynch Law — Trial for attempt 
to Murder — Execution of the Accused — Fine Weather — How the Gold 
became distributed — Volcanic Craters, . _ - - 77 



CHAPTER VI L 

ISIonotonous Life at Weaver's Creek — Dry Diggings Uncertain — Disco- 
very of a Rich Ravine — Great Results of One Day's Labour — Inva- 
sion of my Ravine — Weber and Dalor — The Indian Mode of Trading 
— A Mystery— Settlement of Weaverville — Price of Gold-dust in the 
Winter of 1848 — Gambling — Cost of Provisions — Opening of the 
Spring — Big Bar — Attack of the Land Scurvy— Symptoms and Treat- 



CONTENTS. XI 

ment — Lucky Discovery — Progress of Culoma — Arrival of the First 
Steamer — Broadway Dandies wielding Pick and Shovel — Indian Out- 
rages — Capture and Execution of Redskins, - - - - 89 



CHAPTER VII I. 

Extent and Richness of the Gold Region of Upper California — Are the 
" Gold-washings" inexhaustible? — A Home for the Starving Millions 
of Europe and the Labouring Men of America — Suicidal Policy of our 
Military Governors — Union of Capital, Labour, and Skill — A Word to 
Capitalists — Joint-stock Companies — The Gold-bearing Quartz of the 
Sierra — Experience of Hon. G. W. Wright — Extraordinary Results of 
pulverizing Quartz Rock — The Gold Mines of Georgia — Steam Engines 
and Stamping Machines — Growth of Sacramento and San Francisco, 

103 



CHAPTER IX. 

The Mexican System of Government — Establishment of the Legislative 
Assembly of San Francisco — Seizure of the Town Records — Address 
of the Assembly recommending the Formation of a State Government 
— Interference of Brevet Brigadier-General Riley — Public Meeting — 
Organization of the State Convention — The Constitution — The Elec- 
tions, ----------- 113 



CHAPTER X. 

Growth of San Francisco — Number of Houses erected— Prices of Real 
Estate — Rents — Wages of Mechanics and Labourers — Gambling -- 
Prices Current — Climate — Churches — Steamboats- -Statistics of Ship- 
ping, Slc, &c., &c., -- 121 



CHAPTER XL 

Weber — Sullivan — Stockton — Hudson — Georgetown — Sam Riper — The 
Slate Range — The *' Biggest Lump" yet found in California, 125 



XU CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XII. 



Recapitulation — Population of the Mining Region — Average Amount of 
Gold Dug — Requirements of a Gold-Digger — The Best Season — In 
what kind of Soil is Gold Found? — "Washing Machines — California 
a Habitable Country — The Learned Professions, - - - 131 



CHAPTER XI 11. 
The Old Towns of California, 139 

CHAPTER XIV. 
The New Towns of California, 149 

CHAPTER XV. 
Lower California, -- - 159 



INTRODUCTION. 



On the 26th day of September, 1846, the Tth Regiment 
of New York State Yolimteers, commanded by Colonel J. 
D. Stevenson, sailed from the harbour of New York under 
orders from the Secretary of War, to proceed to Upper 
California. The objects and operations of the expedition, 
the fitting out of which created some sensation at the 
time, are now too well understood and appreciated to re- 
quire explanation. This regiment, in which I had the 
honour of holding a lieutenant's commission, numbered, 
rank and file, about seven hundred and twenty men, and 
sailed from New York in the ships Loo Choo, Susan 
Drew, and Thomas H. Perkins. After a fine passage of 
little more than five months, during which we spent 
several days pleasantly in Rio Janeiro, the Thomas H. 
Perkins entered the harbour of San Francisco and 
anchored ofi" the site of the town, then called Yerba Buena, 
on the 6th day of March, 1847. The remaining ships 
arrived soon afterwards. 

Alta California we found in quiet possession of the 
American land and naval forces — the "stars and stripes" 
floating over the old Mexican presidios. There being no 
immediate service to perform, our regiment was posted in 
small detachments through the various towns, 

2 



XIV INTRODUCTION. 

The now famous city of San Francisco, situated near 
the extreme end of a long and barren peninsular tract of 
land, which separates the bay of San Francisco from the 
ocean, when first I landed, on its beach was almost a soli- 
tude, there being not more than twelve or fifteen rough 
houses, and a few temporary buildings for hides, to relieve 
the view. Where now stands the great commercial metro- 
polis of the Pacific, with its thirty thousand inhabitants, 
its busy streets alive wii:h the hum of trade, were corrals 
for cattle and unoccupied sandy hills. 

With the discovery of the gold mines, a new era in the 
history of California commences. This event has already 
changed a comparative wilderness into a flourishing State, 
and is destined to afi'ect the commercial and political rela^^ 
tions of the world. Between California as she was at the 
period of the cession to the United States and as she is at 
this time, there is no similitude. In two short years her 
mineral resources have been developed, and she has at once 
emerged from obscurity into a cynosure upon which nations 
are gazing with wondering eyes. Her mountains and val- 
leys, but recently the hunting grounds of naked savages, 
are now peopled with a hundred thousand civilized men ; 
her magnificent harbours crowded with ships from far dis- 
tant ports ; her rivers and bays navigated by steamboats ; 
her warehouses filled with the products of almost every 
clime, and her population energetic, hopeful, and pros- 
perous. 

Although a history of California as she was would con- 
vey an entirely false idea of California as she is, it may 
not be amiss to look back a few months and see whence 
has sprung the young giantess now claiming admission on 
equal terms among the starry sisterhood of our Union. 

Prior to the discovery of the placers the country was 
thinly peopled, the inhabitants being mostly native Cali- 



INTRODUCTION. XV 

fornians, Mexicans, and Indians. The better classes lived 
the indolent life of ranchcros; their wealth consisting in 
immense herds of cattle and horses running wild upon the 
hills and plains. The Indians, with the exception of those 
living in a wholly savage state, were little better than serfs, 
and performed all the drudgery and labour. The great 
staples and principal articles of trade were hides and tallow, 
for which goods at enormous prices were taken in exchange. 
Money was the scarcest article on the coast, many persons 
never seeing a dollar from one year's end to another, ox 
hides having acquired the name and answering the purpose 
of ''California bank notes." The amusements of the 
country were gambling and fandangoes, freely participated 
in by both sexes, and all classes of the community. A few 
American, English, and French merchants resided at San 
Francisco, Monterey, Santa Barbara, and Los Angelos, 
who conducted the whole mercantile business of the coun- 
try. The missions, once flourishing establishments, strip- 
ped of their privileges by the Mexican government, had 
fallen to decay. The native inhabitants, a kind, hospitable, 
and light-hearted race, too indolent even to desire more 
than an adobe house for a dwelling, beef and frijoles for 
food, and spirited horses to bear them dashingly over the 
hills and prairies, were either the victims of the tyranny 
of the central government, or of pronunciamentos and 
petty civil broils; and California, with her delicious climate, 
her inexhaustible resources, and important geographical 
position, might to this day have remained an almost un- 
known region, visited occasionally by a trading vessel with 
an assorted cargo, to be exchanged for hides, had not a 
mysterious Providence ordained the discovery of the golden 
sands of the Rio Americano. This event at once gave a 
tremendous impetus to commerce and emigration, and may 



XVI INTRODUCTION. 

bo said to mark an important era in tlio history of the 
Avorhl. 

Upper California, as defined by the ohl maps, embraces 
tlie region of country lying between the Rocky Mountains 
and the Sierra de los Mibres on the east, and the Pacific 
Ocean on the west ; and is bounded on the north by the 
42d degree of latitude, and on the south by Baja or 
Lower California and Sonora. Its extent from east to 
west is from six to seven hundred miles, with an area of 
about four hundred thousand square miles. 

The boundaries of the new ''State of California" as 
fixed by the Constitution are as follows, viz.: " Commencing 
at the point of intersection of the 4i!d degree of north 
latitude with the 1:20th degree of longitude west from 
Greenwich, aiul running south on the line of said 1-Oth 
degree of west longitude until it intersects the SlHh degree 
of north latitude: thence running in a straight line in a 
south-easterly direction to the river Colorado, at a point 
where it intersects the o5th degree of north latitude ; thence 
down the middle of the channel of said river, to the boun- 
dary line between the United States and Mexico, as esta- 
blished by the treaty of May 30, 1848; thence running 
west and along said boundary line to the Pacific Ocean, 
and extending; therein three Eni>;lish miles: thence runuinor 
in a northwesterly direction, and following the Pacific 
coast to the 42d degree of north latitude; thence on the 
line of said 42d degree of north latitude to the place of 
bemnninoj. Also all the islands, harbours, and bavs, alono: 
and adjacent to the Pacific coast." 

The new state, embracing the whole country between the 
Pacific and the 120th degree of west longitude, includes 
both the western and eastern flanks of the Sierra, and must 
contain an area of at least one hundred and fifty thousand 
square miles, being from one hundred to two hundred and 



INTRODUCTION. Xvii 

fifty miles wide. This has been called the Maritime Re- 
gion of California, and contains nearly all the territory 
susceptible of cultivation and inhabitable by civilized man. 
While the Great Basin or Desert lying east of the Sierra 
Nevada, between four and five thousand feet above the 
level of the sea, hemmed in on all sides by lofty ranges of 
snow-clad mountains, completely isolated and shut out from 
communication wdth any other part of the world for at 
least half the year, abounding in sterile plains and arid 
waters, with few fertile spots, must for ever remain a 
sparsely peopled region ; the country lying west of the 
Sierra is smiling with plenty, and capable of sustaining a 
population of several millions. 

There have never been greater mistakes made by writers 
than in describing and estimating the climate and resources 
of California. The most contradictory statements have 
been made, only to be reconciled on the ground that the 
country was seen from different points, and at different 
seasons of the year. It seems to have been forgotten that 
Upper California embraces a region of country extending 
along the coast of the Pacific a distance of more than six 
hundred miles, with' a difference of ten degrees of latitude, 
affording scope for a wide range and vast difference of cli- 
mate. The whole surface of the country is broken up into 
mountains, valleys and plains, and is traversed from north 
to south by the Sierra Nevada and the Coast Range, some 
of the volcanic peaks of the former rising to the height of 
sixteen thousand feet into the region of perpetual anew. 
The country directly bordering the coast has a high mean 
temperature, while a few miles interior the climate will be 
found of the mildest and most genial character — the at- 
mosphere being remarkable for its softness and purity. 
Taking a general view, I doubt much if any country in the 
world can boast a more equable and salubrious climate. 

2* 



XXVlll INTRODUCTION. 

South of Sutter's Fort, snow or ice is seldom or never 
seen, except in the dim distance on the crests of the moun- 
tain ranges. Upon the coast strong winds and fog prevail 
the greater part of the year, rendering it unpleasant, 
though by no means unhealthy. The appearance of the 
native population bears evidence to the salubrity of the 
climate. The men are tall, well formed, and robust, and 
when visiting their mother country, Mexico, have been 
looked upon almost as giants. The women are queenly, 
with dark, flashing eyes, and magnificent busts, and are 
remarkable for their fruitfulness. Families boasting twelve, 
fifteen, and even twenty-five children, have been frequently 
met with. With the exception of the new country now 
occupied by the miners, epidemics are unknown; and it is 
a singular fact, that that awful scourge of mankind, the 
cholera, has never left its destroying footprints in Califor- 
nia. The great peculiarity of the climate is its rainy sea- 
son. From the month of April to November rain is 
almost unknown, while during the winter months it falls 
in torrents. During the present season the rains, how- 
ever, have been light, and delightful spring weather for a 
week or ten days successively has not been unfrequent. 
During the ''dry season," heavy night dews almost supply 
the place of rain, leaving the ground richly moistened in 
the morning. 

The soil of California, like the face of the country, is 
extremely diversified. The hills are usually barren, while 
throughout the whole territory are well-watered valleys, 
whose soil is a rich black loam, capable of producing many 
of the tropical fruits, and all the products of the temperate 
zones. I cannot say I consider California, in its present 
condition, an agricultural country. The rich and extensive 
valleys which exist from north to south are indeed suscep- 
tible of the highest cultivation, and will produce in the 



INTRODUCTION. XIX 

greatest luxuriance, but the hills along the Coast Range 
are generally barren and sandy, and almost devoid of 
shrubbery, while the plains, during eight months of the 
year, are parched with the summer heat. There is this to 
be said, however ; — the experiment has never been fairly 
tried. When the mineral region shall offer less tempta- 
tion than at present, and American industry and ingenuity 
have been brought to bear, the capacities of the soil will 
be fairly tested. The extensive and fertile valleys of the 
Sacramento and San Joaquin, which offer the greatest in- 
ducements to the agriculturist, lie north of San Francisco. 
The lower Sacramento valley is about one hundred and 
seventy miles long, and about sixty broad in the widest 
part. The valley of the San Joaquin is nearly three hun- 
dred miles long, and from fifty to sixty miles wide. Both 
of these valleys are well wooded, and are watered by the 
two great rivers (from which they take their name) and 
their tributaries, and abound wdth a great variety of game. 
Herds of elk, black-tailed deer, and antelopes are seen 
bounding over the hills and plains, — and grizzly bears, 
coyotes^ minxes, badgers, hares, foxes, and wild geese are 
abundant. Wheat grows plentifully at many points, yield- 
ing from thirty to fifty bushels to the acre. It is said that 
much of the land Avill give an average yield of eighty 
bushels of wheat for every one sown. 

The great difiiculty in the way of extensive agricultural 
operations is the lack of rain. But wherever the soil 
can be irrigated, everything grows most luxuriantly; and 
it is astonishing to what an extent the wild oats and rye, 
which cover the Coast Range and some of the foot hills of 
the Sierra, grow even without it. In most places where 
the land can be irrigated, a succession of crops may be 
raised throughout the year. Water can always be found 



XX INTRODUCTION. 

by digging for it, and the many small streams afford the 
means of irrigation. 

South of San Francisco lie the beautiful and fertile val- 
leys of San Jose and San Juan — the garden spot of Cali- 
fornia. In these valleys, and in the whole southern coun- 
try below Point Conception and the Cucsta de Santa Jucs, 
about latitude 35°) most of the tropical and all the fruits 
of the temperate zone are produced in great profusion. 
Figs, grapes, olives, bananas, pomegranates, peaches, ap- 
ples, quinces, pears, melons, and plums of the finest quality 
grow abundantly. The olive of California is larger than 
the French, and declared by gourmets to be far superior 
in flavour, — while the wine pressed from the Californian 
grape needs only to become better known to be apprecia- 
ted. Among the fruits of California growing wild through- 
out the whole country, is the tuna or prickly pear, one of 
the most delicious fruits I have eaten. Onions, potatoes, 
parsnips, carrots, and other culinary vegetables, are pro- 
duced in the lower country in great size and abundance. 
Hemp grows wild in many places, and sugar-cane, cotton, 
and rice may be grown upon the plains with the aid of 
irrigation. There is no country in the Avorld better adapt- 
ed for grazing ; and the raising of stock, particularly sheep, 
will yet prove one of the most profitable branches of in- 
dustry. The wild shrubbery is of an excellent character 
for sheep, and the climate is peculiar!}' adapted to their 
growth. 

In mineral resources California stands unrivalled. To 
say nothing at present of her immense placers of gold, she 
contains within her bosom minerals of other kinds sufficient 
to enrich her. In the north, on the Coast Range above So- 
noma, saltpetre, copper, sulphur, and lead, have been found 
in large quantities ; the latter so pure, that I was told by 



INTRODUCTION. XXI 

an old hunter two years ago, that he had frequently run 
his bullets from the ore. Silver mines have been discovered 
on the south side of San Francisco Bay, and near the Pueblo 
de San Jose are the famous quicksilver mines of New Al- 
maden, said to be superior to those of Spain. A species 
of coal, between the bituminous and the anthracite, has 
been found in the vicinity of San Diego, San Luis Obispo, 
and Santa Cruz, and iron exists throughout the country. 

California occupies a geographical position of the first 
rank and importance, and must eventually control the com- 
merce of the vast Pacific. With a coast extending more 
than six hundred miles from north to south, indented with 
numerous bays and harbours, connected with her golden 
interior almost to the base of the lofty Sierra by navigable 
streams, blessed with a mild and salubrious climate, and 
capable of sustaining a large population, she must one day 
become the entrepot of the commerce of the East. With 
South America on the one side and Oregon on the other — 
the vast empire of China, the rich isles of the Indies, Poly- 
nesia, Japan, and the Sandwich Islands, lying close at 
hand — a steam communication will connect her with the 
most distant of these points in a few weeks. When with 
iron bands she is connected with the great valley of the 
Mississippi, and thence with the shores of the Atlantic, 
the commerce which now is borne around Cape Horn must 
inevitably pass through her borders ; and long ere that is 
accomplished, the completion of the railroad across the 
Isthmus of Panama, or a ship canal across that of Tehuan- 
tepec, will bind her with a closely woven chain to the 
eastern shores of our Union. 

The following pages have been written currente calamo, 
in moments stolen from the cares of business, within sound 
of the click of hammers, the grating of saws, and all the 



XXll INTRODUCTION. 

noise, bustle, excitement, speculation, and confusion of 
San Francisco, and on the eve of my departure for a 
further exploration of the great southern mines. Under 
these circumstances, no particular regard has been paid to 
style. It is not to be expected that a California gold- 
hunter can aflford to bestow hours on the mere polishing of 
sentences and rounding of periods like a Parisian litterateur. 
They contain a narrative of my journey to, and life and 
adventures in, the golden region of California, during the 
autumn, winter, and spring of 1848-9, with a full and com- 
plete description of the principal placers, the process of 
extracting gold from the earth, and the necessary machines 
and implements ; a theory of the origin of the golden 
sands ; an account of the gold-bearing quartz of the Sierra 
Nevada; a history of the rise and progress of the principal 
new towns and cities ; the formation of the state govern- 
ment, and a six months' residence on the Gulf of Lower 
California. I have endeavoured to give a truthful narra- 
tive, and statistics upon which reliance may be placed, with 
a view to a better understanding of the subject than can 
be gained from the garbled, and in some cases maliciously 
untrue statements, which have flooded the eastern press, 
written in some cases by men who have never been farther 
than the town of San Francisco or Stockton, and who of 
course know nothing of the country or the placers. 

The statements of one attracted to California by other 
charms than those of gold, a resident within her borders 
for nearly three years, conversant with the language, man- 
ners, and customs of her inhabitants, an observer of her 
wonderful growth, and a gold-digger for six months, will 
undoubtedly be received with consideration ; and if I suc- 
ceed in imparting to my readers (every one of whom has 
probably a brother or some dear friend here), a correct 



INTRODUCTION. XXlll 

idea of this interesting region, to which the eyes of the 
whole world are now directed, I shall have achieved my 
object. 

At the time of the discovery of the j:>Zacers, I was sta- 
tioned at La Paz, Lower California, but being ordered to 
Upper California, arrived at Monterey in the middle of 
June, 1848, about six weeks after the discovery had been 
made public. The most extravagant stories were then in cir- 
culation, but they were mostly viewed as the vagaries of a 
heated fancy by the good people of Monterey. I was 
ordered to the Pueblo de los Angelos for duty, where I 
arrived on the fourth day of July, and remained with the 
detachment with which I was connected until it was dis- 
banded, on the 18th day of September, 1848. The day 
of our disbandment was hailed with joy such as a captive 
must feel on his release from slavery. For three long 
months we had anxiously awaited the event. The stories 
from the mines breathed the spirit of the Arabian tales, 
and visions of " big lumps" floated before our eyes. In 
three days La Ciudad de los Angelos was deserted by its 
former occupants, and wagons and horses laden with tin 
pans, crowbars, iron pots, shovels, pork, and pickaxes, 
might have been seen on the road to the placers. On the 
18th of October, I reached San Francisco, w^here a curious 
state of things was presented. Gold dust and coin were 
as plentiful as the sea-shore sands, and seemed to be thought 
about as valuable. The town had but little improved since 
I first saw it, as upon the discovery of the mines it had 
been nearly deserted by its inhabitants. Real estate had 
been slowly depreciating for several months, and the idea 
of San Francisco being a large city within two years had 
not yet been broached. Merchandise of all descriptions 
was exceedingly high. Flour was selling at $50 per barrel ; 



xxiv INTRODUCTION. 

dried beef 50 cents per pound ; coffee 50 cents ; shovels 
$10 each; tin pans §5 do. ; crow-bars $10 do. ; red flan- 
nel shirts $5 do. ; common striped shirts $5 do. ; common 
boots $16 per pair ; and everything else in proportion. I 
made a few purchases and held myself in readiness to start 
for the placers. 

San Francisco, January 1st, 1850. 



SIX MONTHS liN THE GOLD MINES. 



CHAPTER I. 

Departure for the Mines — The Victims — Adventures of a Night on 
San Francisco Bay — Voyage in a Launch — My Companion Iliggins 
— Resolutions of the Passengers — The Bay of San Pablo — The 
Straits of Carquinez — Benicia — The Bay of Suisun — The Sacramento 
— Beautiful Scenery — Montezuma — Monte Diablo — Camp on Shore — 
Hala-chum-muck — Firing the Woods — Schwartz's Rancho — A "ma- 
nifest destiny" Man — Involuntary Baptism — Sacramento City — The 
Embarcadero. 

Armed with a pickaxe, shovel, hoe, and rifle, and ac- 
coutred in a red flannel shirt, corduroy pants, and heavy 
boots, and accompanied by two friends, I found myself, on 
the afternoon of the' 25th of October, 1848, wending my 
way to the only wharf in San Francisco, to take passage 
for the golden hills of the Sierra Nevada. The scenes that 
for days had met my eyes, and even as I was stepping on 
board the launch, might have damped the ardour of a more 
adventurous man. Whole launch-loads of miserable vic- 
tims of fever and ague were daily arriving from the mining 
region — sallow, weak, emaciated and dispirited — but I had 
nerved myself for the combat, and doubt not that I would 
have taken passage wdien I did and as I did, had the arch- 
enemy of mankind himself stood helmsman on the little 
craft that was to bear me to El Dorado. We had engaged 
and paid our passage, and such was our eagerness to get a 



26 ADVENTURES OP A XIGHT OX SAN FRANCISCO BAY. 

conveyance of some kind, that we had not even looked at 
the frail bark in ayIucIi "we were to entrust our now more 
than ever before valuable bodies. 

The "Ann" was a little launch of about ten tons bur- 
den, a mere ship's boat, entirely open, and filled with bar- 
rels and merchandise of every kind, and eight human 
beings, who, besides ourselves, had taken passage in her. 
I looked at her, — there was not room upon her deckless 
hull to stow a brandy bottle securely. We tried to reason 
the captain into an idea of the danger of proceeding with 
so much freight, but the only reply he gave us was, that 
"he received four dollars a hundred for it." There was 
no alternative, so in we jumped, and about dusk the boat 
was under way, and scudding with a fair wind across the 
bay of San Francisco. 

There was, of course, no room to cook on board, and 
there was no galley or furnace to cook in ; and, indeed, 
there was nothing to cook, as in our hurry we had ne- 
glected to make purchases of any necessary articles of 
food, and expected to be furnished with our meals among 
the other accommodations of our boat. The captain gene- 
rously ofiered us some cheese and crackers, and after re- 
galing ourselves on these, we commenced instituting a 
search for sleeping-places. It was by this time dark, and 
black clouds were sweeping over the sky. The wind had 
changed, and we were beating off and on Angel Island, 
while the spray was dashing over our boat's sides, which 
w^ere nearly level with the water from her great load. It 
augured anything but a pleasant night, and here were 
eleven of us, with a prospect of rain and spray, forced to 
find some means of sleeping on the pile of barrels or 
boxes that loaded the boat, or pass a night of sleepless- 
ness. 

Sharper-sighted than my companions, I had spied out a 



RESOLUTIONS OF THE PASSENGERS. 27 

box of goods lying aft that rose above the mingled mass 
around it, and upon which, by doubling myself into a most 
unnatural and ungentlemanly position, I could repose the 
upper portion of my body, while my heels rested on the 
chines of a pork-barrel, at an angle of about forty-five 
degrees above my head. With a selfishness peculiar to the 
human race, I appropriated the whole of this couch to my- 
self, and was already in the land of dreams, with bright 
visions of ''big lumps" and bigger piles of gold flitting 
before my spiritual eyes, when I felt myself roughly 
shaken, and awaking, found Higgins, one of my compa- 
nions, standing at my side, who coolly informed me that 
"my time was up, and it was now his turn." It seems 
that, during my absence in the visionary world, a council 
had been held by all hands, in which it was gravely de- 
cided and resolved. Firsts "that there was no other feasi- 
ble sleeping-place than the box then occupied by me ;" 
Secondly^ " that it was contrary to the laws of all human 
society, that one man should appropriate to his own pri- 
vate and individual use all of this world's goods;" and 
Thirdly^ " that, for the next twenty-four hours, all hands 
should in rotation take a nap upon the box." When Hig- 
gins woke me, the rain-drops were pattering upon my 
''scrape^'' and half asleep I jumped up, and going forward, 
found a little place where I could half lie down ; and in 
this manner, with the rain-drops and surf dashing upon 
me, and every roll of the little boat threatening to cast 
me upon the waters, I passed that night on the bay of 
San Francisco, — a night which I shall never forget. My 
companions and fellow-sufi'erers, when not occupying the 
box, were either catching an occasional wink in a perpen- 
dicular position, or sitting upon the chines of a barrel, 
wishing with all their hearts for daylight. 

Morning at length came, as morning always will, even 



28 BENICIA. 

after the longest niglit, and the warm sun soon was shining 
njjon us, and drying our wet clothing, and invigorating 
our dampened spirits. We had passed, during the night, 
out of the bay of San Francisco into that of San Pablo. 
This bay is about ten miles in diameter, its form being 
nearly circular. Its entrance is about eight miles from 
the town of San Francisco, and is marked by two rocky 
islands known as the "Two Brothers," lying a few yards 
from each other, and white with birdlime. The usual 
channel is on the left of these rocks. From the bay of 
San Pablo we entered the straits of Carquinez, thirty-five 
miles from San Francisco, and at about noon we were 
abreast of the town of Benicia. 

The straits of Carquinez are about one mile in width, 
and six in length, and connect the bay of San Pablo with 
that of Suisun. Near the head of the straits and the en- 
trance to Suisun Bay, is placed the city of Benicia. 
This town was the first laid out among the new towns 
of California, and many months before the discovery of 
the mines gave a tremendous impetus to town making. 
Benicia seems destined to become a great city, and per- 
haps rival San Francisco in point of commercial import- 
ance, — possessing, as it unquestionably does, many advan- 
tages over it. The banks are bold and steep, and sufficient 
depth of water is found here at all seasons for vessels to 
lie and discharge their cargoes directly at the bank ; while 
at San Francisco the tide only serves once in twenty-four 
hours, and even then all cargoes are obliged to be trans- 
ported in launches and scows from the ships, which are 
forced to lie at some distance from the shore, in conse- 
quence of the broad flat in front of the town. 

Leaving Benicia, we proceeded into the bay of Suisun, 
and passing the delta of the San Joaquin, entered the mag- 
nificent Sacramento, the Hudson of the western world. The 



CAMP ON SHOKE. 29 

lofty Palisades are not here ; but to the lover of the pic- 
turesque and beautiful, the tall oak groves, through which 
the deer, the elk, and antelope are bounding, the golden 
hue of the landscape, the snowy peaks of the distant Sierra, 
the lofty Mount Diablo, and the calm, broad, and placid 
river, present a scene upon the Sacramento as enchanting 
as that which broke upon the enraptured vision of old 
Hendrick Hudson. At the entrance of the river the land 
is low and somewhat marshy, being covered with a thick, 
rank growth of title^ a species of rush, of which the Indians 
make baskets, chairs, and many little articles. On the 
left bank of the entrance to the Sacramento was the mag- 
nificent city of Montezuma, consisting of one unfinished 
house, through which the autumn winds were rattling. 
This is one of the paper towns laid out some three years 
since, and abandoned since the discovery of the placers 
has brought out more favourable points of location. The 
Sacramento here is about a mile in width; and to the right, 
rising up apparently from the end of the tule prairie, is 
the rugged peak of Monte Diablo (Devil's Mountain), four 
thousand feet in height. The low, alluvial bottom lands 
along the shore appear susceptible of the highest cultiva- 
tion ; and I doubt not, when the gold mania shall have 
partially ceased, the rich bottoms of the Sacramento will 
be clothed with farm-houses, the abodes of happiness, peace, 
and plenty, and that the music of lowing herds will resound 
over its spreading prairies. 

At the mouth of the river there is very little timber ; 
but in our progress upward we found the oak and the 
sycamore growing most luxuriantly ; and, extending back 
on the left bank as far as the eye could reach, a spreading 
prairie of wild oats and mustard, the latter raising its 
yellow-flowered head to the height of many feet. We 
*'tied up" for the night about four miles from the entrance 

3* 



30 HALA-CHUM-MUCK. 

of the river, and building a large fire on shore, and cooking 
some potatoes and pork, with -which the captain generously 
furnished us, determining to spend this night stretched 
upon a level, went to sleep around the camp fire, and made 
good ere morning for our previous night's misery, and 
slept in utter disregard of the wolves and grizzly bears 
"vvliich abound in that region. 

The next day, there being no wind, we were obliged to 
pull for it, and about dusk reached Hala-chum-muck, or, 
as it is now called, "Suisun," a city under that cognomen 
having been laid out here. The "city" is on the left bank 
of the river, and about fifteen miles from its mouth, on a 
bold, high bank, and surrounded by a fine growth of oak 
timber. Hala-chum-muck is an old stopping-place on the 
river ; and finding the remains of a house here, we " tied 
up," and going on shore, and making a fire from the rem- 
nants of some boards, which had been pulled from the 
roof of the house, cooked another supper, and slept on the 
ground, with a small piece of roof over our heads. 

Hala-chum-muck derives its name from an Indian story 
connected with it. Many years ago, a party of hunters 
were encamped here for the night, and being attacked by 
Indians, after a brave resistance were all killed, with the 
exception of one, who, as he was escaping, was followed 
with a cry from the Indians of "Hala-chum-muck" (nothing 
to eat), probably, as he had been forced to throw down his 
rifle, signifying thereby that they would leave him to die 
of starvation. The spot has, ever since that time, borne 
the name of "Hala-chum-muck." 

There were three families living here, with a stock of 
cattle, when the placers were discovered, and Hala-chum- 
muck was bidding fair to be a town ; but on the reception 
of the golden news, they deserted their ranches, and the 
crews of launches which stopped here soon killed ofl" the 



SCHWARTZ'S RANCHO. 31 

cattle and destroyed the dwellings. Lots in Suisim, how- 
ever, are now selling rapidly, and at high rates. 

We continued our progress up the river, occasionally 
stopping and amusing ourselves by firing the woods on 
either side, and watching the broad flames as they spread 
and crackled through the underbrush. On the night of 
the 30th, we hauled up at the rancho of Schwartz — an old 
German, of whom Bryant speaks as a man who has for- 
gotten his own language, and never acquired any other. 
He is certainly the most curious specimen of humanity it 
Avas ever my lot to witness. He emigrated to California 
some ten years since, and obtained a grant of six leagues 
of land, extending up and down the Sacramento River; 
and in the progress of time he will probably be one of the 
richest land-holders of California. He has built upon the 
bank of the river a little hut of tule^ resembling a miserable 
Indian wigwam; and there he lives, a "manifest destiny" 
man, with "masterly inactivity" awaiting the march of 
civilization, and anticipating at some future day the sale 
of his lands for a princely fortune — a hope in which he 
will probably not be disappointed? His language is a 
mixture of his old, mother German, English, Spanish, 
French, and Indian ; and it would require an apter linguist 
than it was ever my good fortune to meet with, to com- 
prehend his "lingua." 

I underwent an operation at Schwartz's rancho, that 
sealed my full connexion and communion with the region 
to which I was travelling. It was no less than an im- 
promptu baptism in the golden waters of the Sacramento. 
We had built a fire on shore, and having purchased from 
Schwartz a few^ pounds of beef at gold-digger's price, i. e, 
one dollar per pound, had eaten our supper, when I started 
for the launch, which lay about ten yards from the shore, 
to get my blankets. The only conveyance was an old log 



32 INVOLUNTARY BAPTISM. 

canoe of Schwartz's ; and seating myself in it, in company 
with one of my companions and an Indian boy he had 
brought with him, we pushed off. The Indian was seated in 
the canoe's bow, and was frightened by the oscillating motion 
given to it, when it was first pushed off from the shore. 
To balance the roll upon one side, he leaned to the other, 
and finding a corresponding motion in that direction, he 
reversed his position, and leaning too far, upset the canoe, 
and all three of us. I, with a heavy overcoat on, and my 
rifle in hand, tumbled into about fifteen feet of water. I 
dropped the rifle as though it were boiling lead, and made 
the best of my way to the shore. We all arrived safely 
on terra firma, and going on board alone in the canoe, I 
changed my clothing. Telling old Schwartz that I must 
encroach upon his hospitality, and drinking about a pint 
of some coloured New England rum, which he assured me 
w^as "de tres best clasa de brandy," I stretched my blan- 
kets on the mud floor of his wigwam, and awoke in the 
morning in as good health and spirits as though nothing 
had happened. I engaged the services of a Kanaka, who 
was on board, to dive fbv my rifle ; and after he had brought 
it up, we got under way, and after sleeping another night 
on the banks of the Sacramento, reached the "Embar- 
cadero," now Sacramento City, on the evening of Novem- 
ber 2d. The river here is about eight hundred feet wide. 

The beautiful plain on which is now located the thriving 
and populous city of Sacramento, was, when I first landed 
there, untenanted. There was not a house upon it, the only 
place of business being an old store-ship laid up upon its 
bank. Where now, after a lapse of only one year, a flou- 
rishing city with a population of twelve thousand stands, I 
pitched my tent on the edge of a broad prairie. 

To complete the party with which we intended going to 
the mines, we were obliged to wait at the Embarcadero for 



THE EMBAECADERO. 33 

three of our disbanded soldiers, who had left the Pueblo de 
los Angeles about the time we did, and were coming by land 
through the Tulare valley, as we required their horses to 
pack the provisions we had brought with us. 

We pitched our tent, cooked our provisions, and anxious- 
ly waited the arrival of the men, a prey to the greatest ex- 
citement, — continually hearing as we did, the most extra- 
vagant stories from the mining region. The intense heat 
of the summer solstice had given way to autumn's cooling 
breezes, and parties were daily arriving at and leaving the 
Embarcadero ; the former with their pockets well lined with 
gold dust, and the latter with high hopes and beating 
hearts. 



CHAPTER II. 

Arrival of our Party — The Mountaineer — A ''prospecting" Expedition 
— The Start — California Skies in November — A Drenching — Go-ahead 
Higgins — "Camp Beautiful" — John the Irishman — The Indian's 
Grave — A "rock" Speech — The Return — Herd of Antelope — John- 
son's Rancho — Acorn Gathering — Indian Sqiiaws — Novel Costume — 
The Rancheria — Pule-u-le — A Bear Fight. 

On the 7th of November our party arrived, — their horses, 
of which they brought five, jaded with the travel in the 
mountains ; and it was not until the 16th that we were able 
to make a start. Being, of course, entirely ignorant of the 
best locality to which to proceed, and being all young, 
strong, and enthusiastic, we determined to strike out a new 
path, and go on an exploring expedition in the mountains, 
in the hope that fortune would throw in our way the biggest 
of all lumps, and that we might possibly find the fountain 
head of El Dorado, where, gushing in a rich and golden 
lava from the heart of the great Sierra, a stream of molten 
gold should appear before our enraptured eyes. 

Fortune, or rather misfortune, favoured us in this project. 
We were visited one evening in camp by a man, who inform- 
ed us that he had recently been on a "prospecting" expedi- 
tion with a party of three others, and that after nearly reach- 
ing, as he thought, the fountain head of gold, the party was 
attacked by Indians, and all, with the exception of himself, 
killed. The "prospect," he told us, was most favourable, 
and learning from him the direction of the mountains in 
which he had been, with two pack-horses lightly laden 



36 A " PROSPECTINO" EXPEDITION. 

with hard bread and dried beef, six of us started on the 
evening of November 16th on our Quixotic expedition, leav- 
ing one with the remainder of our provisions and the tent 
at the Embarcadero. 

We crossed the Rio de los Americanos about a mile above 
Sutter's Fort, and, encamping upon its opposite bank, 
started on the morning of the ITth. The sky promised a 
heavy rain storm ; nothing daunted, however, we pushed 
on in the direction of the Bear River settlements, and 
about noon the sky's predictions were most fully realized. 
The rain fell in big drops, and soon broke upon us in tor- 
rents. The wind blew a hurricane, and we were in the ap- 
parent centre of an open prairie, with a row of sheltering 
trees about four miles distant, mockingly beckoning us to 
seek protection beneath their thick and wide-spreading 
branches. 

"VYe pushed on, and succeeded in reaching the trees, 
which proved to be evergreen oaks, in a little more than 
an hour, wet to the skin. The little clothing we had 
brought with us, and packed upon the horses' backs, was 
also wet, and our bread reduced to the consistency of paste. 
We were dispirited, but managed to build a fire beneath 
the trees, and remained there throughout the day. The 
rain ceased at nightfall, and making a sorry supper from 
our wet bread and slimy meat, we stretched ourselves on the 
ground, wrapped in our blankets, heartily cursing our folly 
in travelling out of the beaten track with the hopes of ren- 
dering ourselves rich and our names immortal. But tired 
men will sleep even in wet blankets and on muddy ground, 
and we were half compensated in the morning for our pre- 
vious day's adventures and misfortunes by as bright a sun- 
shine and clear a sky as ever broke upon a prairie. Gather- 
ing up our provisions, we made a start, for the purpose of 
reaching, before night set in, a ravine, where we were, ac- 



GO-AHEAD HIGGINS. 37 

cording to our directions, to leave the main road and strike 
for the mountains. 

About dusk we reached a dry '^arroyo," which we sup- 
posed to be the one indicated on the rough draft of the 
road we were to travel, given us by the mountaineer who 
had first impressed our minds with the idea of this expedi- 
tion. We unpacked, built a roaring fire in the centre of 
the arroyo^ and placing our wet bread and beef in its im- 
mediate vicinity, had them soon in a fair way of drying. 
We lay down again at night, with a bright starlit sky rest- 
ing peacefully over us, and hoped for an invigorating rest ; 
but California skies in November are not to be trusted, and 
so we found to our sorrow, for about twelve o'clock we were 
all turned out by a tremendous shower of rain. We gather- 
ed around the expiring fire, and our sorrows for our bodily 
sufferings were all soon absorbed in the thought that there 
lay our poor bread and meat, our sole dependence for sup- 
port, once half dried and now suffering a second soaking. 
There being no indications of a cessation of the rain, we 
stretched over our provisions a small tent w^e had brought 
with us, and for not having previously pitched which we 
cursed ourselves heartily, and spent the remainder of the 
night in sleeplessness and wet. 

The tantalizing morning again broke fair, and it was de- 
cided to remain where we were throughout the day, and 
make another attempt at drying our provisions, and at the 
same time fully decide what to do. Two of the party (my- 
self included) wished either to turn back and try some other 
part of the ''diggins," or proceed on the main road which 
we had been travelling, and near which we were then en- 
camped, directly to the Yuba River, at a distance, as we 
supposed, of about thirty miles. But the go-ahead party 
was too powerful for us, and, headed by Higgins, a man of 
the most indomitable perseverance, pictured to us the glo- 



38 "CAMP BEAUTIFUL." 

rious results avo wore to aehieve. We were to go where 
the track of the ^yhite man was yet unseen, and find in the 
mountain's stony heart a home for the winter, with untold 
riches lying beneath our feet. We yielded, and the next 
morning at daylight started again, making a straight course 
for the mountains, lying in a northeasterly direction, and 
apparently about twenty-five miles distant. And here we 
were, started on an unknown track, to go among hostile 
savages, who we knew had already killed our countrymen, 
our provisions for six consisting of about twenty-five 
pounds of wet and already moulded hard bread and some 
miserable jerked beef. 

We travelled up the ''arroyo"' till nearly sunset, when 
we struck the foot-hills of the mountains. AVe had seen 
no foot-tracks, except an occasional naked one of an Indian, 
and I became fully satisfied that we had taken the wrong 
*'arroyo" as our diverging point. The ground over which 
we had travelled that day was a miserable stony soil, with 
here and there a scrubby oak tree growing. As we struck 
the foot of the mountains the scene was changed. Rich, 
verdant, and fertile-looking valleys opened out before us, 
and tall oaks threw a luxuriant, lengthened evening shadow 
upon the gentle slope of their ascent. We entered the 
midst of these valleys, and, after proceeding nearly a mile, 
came to the prettiest camping spot I ever saw. An expan- 
sion of the valley formed a circular plain of about a mile 
in diameter, surrounded on all sides, excepting at its one nar- 
row entrance, with green, tree-covered, and lofty hills. A 
tall growth of grass and wild oats, interspersed with beau- 
tiful blue and yellow autumnal flowers, covered the plain, 
and meandering through it, with a thousand windings, was 
a silvery stream, clear as crystal, from which we and our 
thirsty horses drank our fill, and relished the draught, I 
believe, better than the o-ods ever did their nectar. Tt 



JOHN THE IRISHMAN. 39 

was a beautiful scene. The sun was just sinking behind 
the hills on the western side, and threw a golden stream 
of light on the opposite slope. Birds of gaudy plumage 
were carolling their thousand varied notes on the tree 
branches, and I thought if gold and its allurements could 
be banished from my thoughts, I could come here and live 
in this little earthly paradise happily for ever. 

We selected a gentle slope, beneath a huge rock, near the 
western hill-side, for our camping ground, and, again build- 
ing a fire, wore about to content ourselves with a supper of 
mouldy bread, when a jolly son of the Emerald Isle who 
was one of our party, in diving among tlie little bags of 
which our packs consisted, found one of burnt and ground 
coftce, which we did not know we possessed, and another 
of sugar, both to be sure a little wet, but nevertheless wel- 
come. Talk of the delights of sipping the decoction of the 
''brown berry" after a hearty dinner at " Delmonico's!" 
That dish of hot coftee, drunk out of my quart tin pot, in 
which also I had boiled it, was a more luxurious beverage 
to me than the dew-drops in a new-blown rose could be to 
a fairy. I slept dehghtfully under its influence till mid- 
night, when I was caUed to stand my turn of guard duty, 
which, as we were in an Indian region, all knew to be 
necessary ; and I, who so often with my sword belted around 
me, had commanded guard as their officer, watched post 
with my old rifle for nearly two hours. 

The day broke as clear and beautiful upon our enchanting 
valley as the previous one had closed. After partaking of 
another pot of hot coftce and some mouldy bread, I took a 
stroll across the little stream, with my rifle for my compa- 
nion, while the others, more enthusiastic, started in search 
of gold. I crossed the plain, and found, at the foot of the 
hill on the otlier side, a deserted Indian hut, built of bushes 
and mud. The fire w^as still burning on the mud hearth, a 



40 THE Indian's grave. 

few gourds filled with water were lying at the entrance, 
and an ugly dog was growling near it. Within a few feet 
of the hut was a little circular mound enclosed with a brush 
l)aliiig. It was an Indian's grave, and placed in its centre, 
as a tombstone, was a long stick stained with a red colour- 
ing, which also covered the surface of the mound. Some 
proud chieftain probably rested here, and as tlie hut bore 
evident marks of having been ver}^ recently deserted, his 
descendants had without doubt left his bones to moulder 
there alone, and lied at the sight of the white man. 

Leaving this spot, I returned to camp, and, as the gold- 
hunters had not yet come back, still continued to stroll 
around it. The top of the rock beneath which we had 
slept was covered with deep and regularly made holes, like 
those found in the rocks where rapids of rivers have fallen 
for centuries and worn them out. It was long before I 
could account for the existence of these, but finally ima- 
gined, what I afterwards found to be the fact, that they 
were made by the continual pounding of the Indians in 
mashing their acorns. In the vicinity I observed several 
groves of a species of white oak {Qurrcus !on(ji(jIanda\ some 
of them eight feet in diameter, and at least eighty feet 
hio:h. This tree is remarkable for the len":th of its acorns, 
several that I picked up measuring two inches. 

The gold-hunters finally returned, and with elongated 
countenances reported that, though they had diligently 
searched every liitle ravine around our camp, the nearest 
they could come to gold-finding was some beautiful speci- 
mens of mica, which John the Irishman brought in with 
him, insisting that it was ^'pure goold." We camped 
again in the valley that night, and the next morning held 
another council as to what we should do and whither we 
should go. lliggins, as usual, was for going ahead; I was 
for backing out: and the little party formed itself into two 



A '' HOlMC" 8 I'M Km. 41 

fju'lions, lliir,Li;ii>s nl llio hvnd of ono, and 1 of tlio other. 
jMoimtini;- iho rock, 1 mado m>t oxaotly a ''slum})," but a 
"rook" spoiH'li, ill which, to my own satislactioii, and, as 
it proved, to that of the inajorit v of tho party, I explained 
tlu^ madness of tlie idea ol* start ini>' into tlie mountains on 
foot, Avithoul a i2;niile, and with l)ul, about two or tliree 
days' provisions remaining. We had seen but tew deer so 
tar, antl knew not. whetlier tliere wen* any in the uu)uu- 
tains. I rtH'ounuen(K*d that: we shouhl inuiuMliatt^ly pack 
up, and strike wiiat we tlu)u^lit to be tlie best course for 
elohnson's ilaneho, on Bear Iviver, about lit'teen mih\s from 
Yuba. 1 succeoiUul, and we packed up and it^trai'cd our 
stops, with somewhat luvivy liearts, (h)wn the little valley. 
Wo left our blessin*;' on tlu^ lov(dy s])ot, nanunl our camp- 
ing ground '* Camp Beautilul," and proceedcul on our 
>Yay, following the bas(^ of the mountains. There was no 
road, and we knew not whither wo were going, only that 
wo were in the right direction. The country outside of 
the mountains was miserably poor and barren, the soil 
being covered with a, rocky Hint. It is entircdy destitute 
of timber, excepting on the banks of the "arroyos," which 
were then ilry, and are all skirtc^l with magnificent ever- 
green oaks. We were travelling in a northwesterly direc- 
tion, and hoped to reach JJear Jviver at night; coming, 
however, to a little stream, we camj)eil u})on its margin, 
and the next day started again, refreshed by a gooil night's 
sloop, but dispirited from our ignoran^oo of whore we were, 
or "Nvhither we were going, besides being foot-sore from our 
travel over the llinty pebbles. About noon we saw, at a 
distance of some three or four miles, an immense iloek of 
what we took to bo sheep. Elated at the i)rosi)eet of being 
near a rancho, we speedily un})acked a horst\ and using 
the pack lashing for a bridle, J uu>unted him, and galloped 
at full speed in tho direction of tho Hock, hoping to liud 

4* 



42 THE RETURN. 

the ranclio to -which thej belonged near them. I ap- 
proached to within three hundred yards of them before I 
discovered the mistake under which I had laboured, when 
the whole herd went bounding away affrighted. AVhat I 
had taken for a flock of sheep was a herd of antelopes, 
containing, I should suppose, nearly a thousand, and for a 
supper of one of which I would have freely given a month's 
anticipated labour in the gold mines. I returned to the 
party, and dampened their already disheartened spirits by 
my report. 

We travelled on slowly, for we were wearied and heart- 
sick, and at about four o'clock in the afternoon, having 
traversed a very circuitous route, the horses were unpacked 
and the small quantity of remaining provisions put in our 
pockets. Higgins, the owner of one of the horses, mounted 
his, and John the Irishman, who was suffering with a rheu- 
matic comj^laint, the other. I was so weary and weak that 
I could scarcely support myself, and my feet were so covered 
with blisters, and so swollen, that every step I took seemed 
like treading on sharpened spikes. How I wished myself 
back in " Camp Beautiful," — in Texas — anywhere but 
where I was. I was lagging behind the party, when John, 
turning round, saw me, and stopped his horse ; as I came 
up to him he dismounted and forced me to take his place. 
God bless thee ! generous Irishman. Beneath a rough 
exterior he had a heart which beat with feelings and emo- 
tions to which many.a proud bosom is a stranger. How I 
loaded him with thanks, and only received his unsophisti- 
cated reply, that I "was tireder than he was." About 
dark we struck a stream of water, and all but Higgins were 
ready and glad to camp and eat the last remains of the 
mouldy bread and beef. The persevering energy of Hig- 
gins had not in the least degree failed him, and without 
getting off his horse, he bade us " good-bye," and assured 



Johnson's rancho. 43 

us that lie would never return till he had found Johnson's 
Rancho. He left us : we built up a good fire, and about 
three hours afterward, while speculating on his return, he 
came dashing into camp with about a dozen pounds of fresh 
beef, some bread, and a bottle of fine old brandy. We 
welcomed him as w^e would an angel visitant. My distaste 
for his desperation changed into an admiration for his 
energy. It seems he had found a road about forty yards 
from our camp, and a ride of five miles had brought him to 
Johnson's Rancho. We made a good supper of beef and 
bread, and. revived our fainting spirits with the brandy, 
and in the fulness of our hearts unanimously voted Higgins 
excused from guard duty for that night. Next morning, 
light-hearted and happy, we started for the rancho, and 
crossing Bear River, on which it is situated, reached there 
about ten o'clock. Johnson is an American, who many 
years since obtained a large grant of fertile land on Bear 
River, and has been living here for years within fifteen 
miles of a stream whose banks and bed were filled with in- 
calculable riches. 

We procured some provisions here, and started for the 
Yuba, and without any mishaps reached the camping ground, 
about three miles from the river, early in the afternoon. 
We camped, and Higgins and myself started on a hunting 
expedition, for the purpose of getting some game for supper. 
We made our w^ay into the hills, and were travelling slowly, 
trailing our rifles, when we stopped suddenly, dumbfounded, 
before two of the most curious and uncouth-looking objects 
that ever crossed my sight. They were two Indian women, 
engaged in gathering acorns. They were entirely naked, 
with the exception of a coyote skin extending from the 
waists to the knees. Their heads were shaved, and the 
tops of them covered with a black tarry paint, and a huge 
pair of military whiskers were daubed on their cheeks with 



44 PULE-U-LE. 

the same article. They had with them two conical-shaped 
wicker baskets, in which thej were placing the acorns, 
which were scattered ankle deep around them. Higgins, 
Avith more gallantry than myself, essayed a conversation 
with them, but made a signal failure, as after listening 
to a few sentences in Spanish and English, they seized 
their acorn baskets and ran. The glimpse we had taken 
of these mountain beauties, and our failure to enter into 
any conversation with them, determined us to pay a visit 
to their headquarters, which we knew^ were near by. Watch- 
ing their footsteps in their rapid flight, w^e saw them, after 
descending a hill, turn up a ravine, and disappear. We 
followed in the direction which they had taken, and soon 
reached the Indian ranclieria. It was located on both 
sides of a deep ravine, across which was thrown a large 
log as a bridge, and consisted of about twenty circular 
wigwams, built of brush, plastered with mud, and capable 
of containing three or four persons. As we entered, wx 
observed our flying beauties, seated on the ground, pound- 
ing acorns on a large rock indented with holes similar to 
those which so puzzled me at " Camp Beautiful." We 
were suddenly surrounded upon our entrance by thirty or 
forty male Indians, entirely naked, who had their bows and 
quivers slung over their shoulders, and who stared most 
suspiciously at us and our rifles. Finding one of them who 
spoke Spanish, I entered into a conversation with him — 
told him w^e had only come to pay a visit to the ranclieria^ 
and, as a token of peace ofi'ering, gave him about two pounds 
of musty bread and some tobacco which I happened to have 
in my game-bag. This pleased him highly, and from that 
moment till we left, Pulc-ii-Je^ as he informed me his name 
was, appeared my most intimate and sworn friend. I 
apologized to him for the unfortunate fright which we had 
caused a portion of his household, and assured him that no 



THE KANCHERIA. 45 

harm was intended, as I entertained the greatest respect 
for the ladies of his tribe, whom I considered far superior 
in point of ornament, taste, and natural beauty to those of 
any other race of Indians in the country. Pule-u-le ex- 
hibited to me the interior of several of the wigwams, which 
were nicely thatched with sprigs of pine and cypress, while 
a mattino; of the same material covered the bottom. Durina; 
our presence our two female attractions had retired into 
one of the wigwams, into which Pule-u-le piloted us, where 
I found some four or five squaws similarly bepitched and 
clothed, and who appeared exceedingly frightened at our 
entrance. But Pule-u-le explained that we were friends, 
and mentioned the high estimation in which I held them, 
which so pleased them that one of the runaways left the 
wigwam and soon brought me in a large piece of bread 
made of acorns, which to my taste was of a much more ex- 
cellent flavour than musty hard bread. 

Pule-u-le showed us the bows and arrows, and never have 
I seen more beautiful specimens of workmanship. The 
bows were some three feet long, but very elastic and some 
of them beautifully carved, and strung with the intes- 
tines of birds. The arrows were about eighteen inches in 
length, accurately feathered, and headed with a perfectly 
clear and transparent green crystal, of a kind which I had 
never before seen, notched on the sides, and sharp as a 
needle at the point. The arrows, of which each Indian 
had at least twenty, were carried in a quiver made of coyote 
skin. 

I asked Pule-u-le if he had ever known of the existence 
of gold prior to the entrance of white men into the mines. 
His reply was that, where he was born, about forty miles 
higher up the river, he had, when a boy, picked it from 
the rocks in large pieces, and amused himself by throwing 



46 A BEAR EIGHT. 

them into the river as he would pebbles. A portion of the 
tribe go daily to the Yuba River, and wash out a sufficient 
amount of gold to purchase a few pounds of flour, or some 
sweetmeats, and return to the rmicheria at night to share 
it with their neighbours ; who in their turn go the next 
day, while the others are chasing hare and deer over the 
hills. There were no signs around them of the slig-htest 
attempt to cultivate the soil. Their only furniture con- 
sisted of woven baskets and earthen jars, and Pule-u-le 
told me that in the spring he thought they should all leave 
and go over the "big mountain," to get from the sight of 
the white man. 

Highly pleased with our visit, and receiving a very 
earnest invitation to "call again," we left t\\Q rancher ia 
and proceeded towards the camp. About half way from 
the ranclieria a loud braying, followed -by a fierce growl, 
attracted our attention, and in a few moments a frightened 
mule, closely pursued by an enormous grizzly bear, de- 
scended the hill-side within forty yards of where we stood 
leaning on our rifles. As the bear reached the road, Hig- 
gins, with his usual quickness and intrepidity, fired, and 
an unearthly yell from the now infuriated animal told with 
what efiect. The mule in the interval had crossed the road, 
and was now scampering away over the plains, and Bruin, 
finding himself robbed of his prey, turned upon us. I 
levelled my rifle and gave him the contents Avith hearty 
good will, but the wounds he had received only served to 
exasperate the monster, who now made towards us wdth 
rapid strides. Deeming prudence the better part of valour, 
we ran with all convenient speed in the direction of the 
camp, within a hundred yards of which my foot became 
entangled in the underbrush, and I fell headlong upon the 
earth. In another instant I should have fallen a victim to 



A BEAR FIGHT. 47 

old Bruin's rage, but a well-directed ball from my com- 
panion's rifle entered his brain and arrested his career. 
The whole party now came to our assistance and soon de- 
spatched Mr. Grizzly. Dragging him to camp, we made a 
hearty supper from his fat ribs, and, as I had probably been 
the more frightened of the two, I claimed as an indemnity 
his skin, which protected me afterward from the damp 
ground many a cold night. He was a monstrous fellow, 
measuring nearly four feet in height, and six in length, 
and a stroke from his huge paw would, had he caught us, 
have entirely dissipated the golden dreams of Higgins and 
myself. 



CHAPTER III. 

Yuba River — A Clean Shirt an Expensive Luxury — Yankee Pedler — 
The Upper and Lower Diggings — Foster's Bar — The Gold-Rocker — 
Gold-Digging and Gold-Washing — Return to the Embarcadero — Cap- 
tain John A. Sutter — Curious Currency — Sutter's Fort — Sam. Brannan 
and Co. — Washing Clothes — Salmon Shooting — Green Springs — 
Weaver's Creek — A Teamster's Bill. 

Next morning early, in better spirits than we had en- 
joyed for a week previously, we started for Yuba River. 
About a mile from the camping-place we struck into the 
mountains, the same range at whose base we had been 
before travelling, and which are a portion of the Sierra 
Nevada. The hills here were steep and rugged, but 
covered with a magnificent growth of oak and red-wood. 
As we reached the summit of a lofty hill, the Yuba River 
broke upon our view, winding like a silver thread beneath 
us, its banks dotted with white tents, and fringed with 
trees and shrubbery. 

We had at last reached the "mines," although a very 
different portion of them than that for which we started. 
We turned out our tired horses, and immediately set forth 
on an exploring expedition. As my clothing was all dirty 
and wet, I concluded to indulge in the luxury of a new 
shirt, and going down to the river found a shrewd Yankee 
in a tent surrounded by a party of naked Indians, and ex- 
posing for sale jerked beef at a dollar a pound, flour at a 
dollar and a half do., and for a coarse striped shirt which 

5 



50 THE GOLI>-ROCKKE, 

I picked up with the intention of pnrchasing, he coolly 
asked me the moderate price of sixteen dollars ! I looked 
at mv dirtT shirt, then at the clean new one I held in my 
hand, and finally at mv little gold bag, not Tet replenished 
bT digging, and concluded to postpone my purchase until 
I had struck mv pick and crowbar into the K^wels of the 
earth, and extracted therefrom at least a sufficiencT to 
purchase a shirt. The diggings on Yuba River had at that 
time been discovered only about three months, and were 
confined entirely to the **bars," as they are called, extend- 
inir nearlv a mile each wav from where the rx>ad strikes 
:lie river, on Wth its banks. The principal diggings were 
:lien called the ** upper** and the "lower diggings,"* each 
fibout half a mile above and below the road. We started 
:or the upper diggings to **see the elephant,'* '4nd winding 
t*iirough the hills, for it was impossible to travel all the 
way on the river*s bank, struck the principal bar then 
Avrought on the river. This has since been called Foster's 
Bar, after an American who was then keejung a stoi>e 
there, and who had a claim on a large portion of the bar. 
Upon reaching the bar, a curious scene presented itself. 
About one himdred men, in miner's costume, were at work, 
performing the various portions of the laK>ur necessary in 
digging the earth and working a rocking machine. The 
apparatus then used upon the YuK^ River, and which has 
always been the favourite assistant of the gold-digger, 
was the common rocker or cradle, constructed in the sim- 
plest manner. It consists of nothing moie than a wooden 
^v»x or hollowed log, two sides and one end of which are 

.v>sevl, while the other end is left open. At the end 
^vhich is closevl and called the "mouth* of the machine, a 
sieve, usually made of a plate of sheet iron, or a jdece of 
raw hide, perforatcxl with holes aK>ut half an inch in 

v.ameter, is rested upon the sides. -\ number of " bars' 



or "riiriv:>. iuo.> of K^rvi from one to 

two inclies - cvi to the K>iiom, and extond 

later^sdlv across it. Of these, thei>e are three or four in 
the machine, and one at the " tail," a$ it is called, i. e. 
the end where the dirt is washed out. This, with a pair of 
rockers like those of a child's cradle, and a handle to rock 
it with, complete the o :i of the machine, which 

being placed with the i - upon two logs, and tho 

"mouth' elcTiatevl at a slight anirle ahore the tail, is 
ready for operation. Modified and improred as this ' 
be, and a^? in fact it already has been, so long as mar.;;,. 
laK"»ur is employed for washing gold, the "cradle" is tho 
best agent to use for that purpose. T^ manner of pro- 
curing and washing the golden earth was this. The loose 
stones and surface earth being removed from any portio:: 
of the bar, a hole from four to six feet square was opened, 
and the dirt exxracied therefrom was thrown upon a raw- 
hide placed at the side of the machine. One man shovelleA 
the dirt into, the sieve, another dipped up water and 
threw it on, and a third rocked the "cradle," The earth, 
thrown upon the sieve, is washed through with the water, 
while the stones and gravel are retained and thrown off. 
The continued motion of the machine, and the constant 
stream of water pouring through it, washes the earth over 
the various bars or rifflers to the "tail," where it runs 
out, while the gold, being of greater specific gravity, sinks 
to the bouom, and is prevented from escaping by the 
rifflers. When a certain amount of earth has been thus 
washed ^usually about sixty pans full are called " a wash- 
ing" \ the gold, mixed with a heavy black sand, which is 
always found mingled with gold in California, is taken out 
and washed in a tin pan, until nearly all the sand is 
washed away. It is then put into a cup or pan, 
and when the dav's lab'^ur is over is dried before the fire. 



52 GOLD-DIGGINa AND GOLD-WASHING. 

and the sand remaining carefully blown out. This is a 
simj^le explanation of the process of gold-washing in the 
placers of California. At present, however, instead of 
dipping and pouring on water by hand, it is usually led 
on by a hose or forced by a pump, thereby giving a better 
and more constant stream, and saving the labour of one 
man. The excavation is continued until the solid rock is 
struck, or the water rushing in renders it impossible to 
obtain any more earth, when a new place is opened. We 
found the gold on the Yuba in exceedingly fine particles, 
and it has always been considered of a very superior 
quality. We inquired of the washers as to their success, 
and they, seeing we were ''green horns," and thinking we 
might possibly interfere with them, gave us either evasive 
answers, or in some cases told us direct lies. We under- 
stood from them that they were making about twenty dol- 
lars per day, while I afterwards learned, from the most 
positive testimony of two men who were at work there at 
the time, that one hundred dollars a man w^as not below 
the average estimate of a day's labour. 

On this visit to Foster's Bar I made my first essay in 
gold-digging. I scraped up with my hand my tin cup full 
of earth, and washed it in the river. How eagerly I 
strained my eyes as the earth was washing out, and the 
bottom of the cup was coming in view ! and how delighted, 
when, on reaching the bottom, I discerned about twenty 
little golden particles sparkling in the sun's rays, and 
worth probably about fifty cents. I wrapped them care- 
fully in a piece of paper, and preserved them for a long 
time, — but, like much more gold in larger quantities, 
w^hich it has since been my lot to possess, it has escaped 
my grasp, and where it now is Heaven only knows. 

The labour on Yuba River appeared very severe, the 
excavations being sometimes made to a depth of twelve 



RETURN TO THE EMBARCADERO. 53 

feet before the soil containing the gold, which was a 
gravelly clay, was reached. We had not brought our tools 
with us, intending, if our expedition in the mountains had 
succeeded, that one of our party should return for our 
remaining stock of provisions and tools. We had no 
facilities for constructing a machine, and no money to buy 
one (two hundred dollars being the price for which a mere 
hollowed pine log was offered us), and besides, all the 
bars upon which men were then engaged in labour were 
"claimed," a claim at that time being considered good 
when the claimant had cleared off the top soil from any 
portion of the bar. We returned to our camp, and talked 
over our prospects, in a quandary what to do. Little did 
we then dream that, in less than six months, the Yuba 
River, then only explored some three miles above where 
we were, would be successfully wrought for forty miles 
above us, and that thousands would find their fortunes 
upon it. 

We concluded to return to the Emhareadero^ and take 
a new start. Accordingly, next morning we packed up 
and set off, leaving at work upon the river about two hun- 
dred men. Having i^traced our steps, we arrived at Sut- 
ter's Fort in safety on the evening of November 30th, just 
in time to find the member of our party whom we had left 
behind, packing all our remaining provisions and tools into 
a cart, ready to start for the "dry diggings" on the fol- 
lowing morning. 

The history of John A. Sutter, and his remarkable settle- 
ment on the banks of the Sacramento, has been one of 
interest since California first began to attract attention. 
Captain Sutter is by birth a Swiss, and was formerly an 
officer in the French army. He emigrated to the United 
States, became a naturalized citizen, and resided in Mis- 
souri several years. In the year 1839 he emigrated to 

5* 



54 CAPTAIN JOHX A. SUTTER. 

the then -svilderness of California, where he obtained a 
large grant of land, to the extent of about eleven leagues, 
bordering on the Sacramento River, and made a settlement 
directly in the heart of an Indian country, among tribes of 
hostile savages. For a long time he suffered continual 
attacks and depredations from the Indians, but finally suc- 
ceeded, by kind treatment and good offices, in reducing 
them to subjection, and persuading them to come into his 
settlement, which he called New Helvetia. With their 
labour he built a large fort of adobes or sunburnt bricks, 
brought a party of his Indians under military discipline, 
and established a regular garrison. His wheat-fields were 
very extensive, and his cattle soon numbered five thousand, 
the whole labour being performed by Indians. These he 
paid with a species of money made of tin, which was 
stamped with dots, indicating the number of days' labour 
for which each one was given : and they were returned to 
him in exchano;e for cotton cloth, at a dollar a yard, and 
trinkets and sweetmeats at corresponding prices. The dis- 
covery of the gold mines of California has, however, added 
more to Sutter's fame than did his bold settlement in the 
wilderness. This has introduced him to the world almost 
as a man of gold, and connected his name for ever with 
the most prized metal upon earth. He is quite "a gentle- 
man of the old school," his manners being very cordial 
and prepossessing. 

Sutter's Fort is a large parallelogram, of adobe walls, 
five hundred feet long by one hundred and fifty broad. 
Port-holes are bored through the walls, and at its corners 
are bastions, on which cannon are mounted. But when I 
arrived there its hostile appearance was entirely forgotten 
in the busy scenes of trade which it exhibited. The 
interior of the fort, which had been used by Sutter for 
granaries and storehouses, was rented to merchants, the 



SALMON SHOOTING. 55 

whole at the annual sum of sixty thousand dollars, and 
was converted into stores, where every description of goods 
was to be purchased at gold-mine prices. Flour was sell- 
ing at $60 per barrel, pork at $150 per barrel, sugar at 
25 cents per pound, and clothing at the most enormous 
and unreasonable rates. The principal trading establish- 
ment at this time was that of Samuel Brannan & Co. Mr. 
Brannan informed me, that since the discovery of the 
mines, over seventy-five thousand dollars in gold dust had 
been received by them. Sutter's Fort is in latitude 35° 33' 
45" N., and longitude 121° 40' 05" W. 

With all our worldly gear packed in an ox-wagon, we 
left Sutter's Fort on the morning of the 1st of December, 
and travelling about seven miles on the road, encamped in 
a beautiful grove of evergreen oak, to give the cattle an 
opportunity to lay in a sufficient supply of grass and acorns, 
preparatory to a long march. As we were to remain here 
during the day, we improved the opportunity by taking our 
dirty clothing, of which by that time we had accumulated a 
considerable quantity, down to the banks of the American 
Fork, distant about one mile from camp, for the purpose 
of washing. While- we were employed in this laborious 
but useful occupation, Higgins called my attention to the 
salmon which were working up the river over a little rapid 
opposite us. Some sport suggested itself; and more anxious 
for this than labour, we dropped our half-washed shirts, 
and started back to camp for our riiies, which we soon pro- 
cured, and brought down to the river. In making their 
way over the bar, the backs of the salmon were exposed 
some two inches above water ; and the instant one appeared, 
a well-directed rille-ball perforated his spine. The result 
was, that before dark Higgins and myself carried into 
camp thirty-five splendid salmon, procured by this novel 
mode of sport. We luxuriated on them, and gave what 



56 GREEN SPRINGS. 

we could not cat for supper and breakfast to some lazy 
Indians, ■who had been employed the ^vhole day in spearing 
some half dozen each. There is every probability that the 
salmon fishery -will yet prove a highly lucrative business in 
California. 

Next morning -vvc packed up and made a fresh start. 
That night "we encamped at the ^' Green Springs," about 
twenty-five miles distant from Sutter's Fort. These springs 
are directly upon the road, and bubble up from a muddy 
black loam, while around them is the greenest verdure, — 
the surrounding plain being dotted with beautiful groves 
and magnificent flowers. Their waters are delicious. 

As the ox-toam was a slow traveller, and quarters were 
to be looked for in our new Avinter home, on the next morn- 
ing Iliggins and myself were appointed a deputation to 
mount two horses we had brought with us and proceed 
post-haste to the '^ dry diggings." We started at 10 A. M., 
and travelled through some beautiful valleys and over 
lofty hills. As we reached the summit of a high ridge, 
we paused by common consent to gaze upon the landscape 
and breathe the delicious air. The broad and fertile val- 
leys of the Sacramento and San Joaquin lay stretched at 
our feet like a highly coloured map. The noble rivers 
which lend their names to these rich valleys were plainly 
visible, winding like silver threads through dark lines of 
timber fringing their banks ; now plunging amid dense fo- 
rests, and now coming in view sparkling and bright as the 
riches they contain : the intermediate plains, here parched 
and browned with the sun's fierce rays ; there brilliant with 
all the hues of the rainbow, and dotted with the autumnal 
flowers and open groves of evergreen oak. Herds of elk, 
black-tailed deer, and antelope browsed near the moun- 
tain sides, on the summit of which the eaHe builds his 
eyry. The surrounding atmosphere, fragrant with delight- 



weaver's creek. 5T 

fill odours, was so pure and transparent as to render objects 
visible at a great distance, and so elastic and bracing as to 
create a perceptible effect on our feelings. Far in the dis- 
tance the massive peak of Shaste reared its snow-capped 
head, from amid a dense forest, fourteen thousand feet into 
the sky. We arrived at what was then called Weaver's 
Creek, about dusk. About a dozen log houses, rudely thrown 
together and plastered with mud, constituted the little town 
which was to be our winter home, and where we were to be 
initiated into the mysteries, pleasures, and sufferings of a 
gold-digger's life. A pretty little stream, coursing through 
lofty oak and pine-covered hills, and on whose left bank the 
settlement had been made, was the river that had borne down 
the riches which wo hoped to appropriate to our private uses. 
It was a beautiful afternoon when we reached it. The sun 
was just declining, and, resting upon the crest of the distant 
Sierra Nevada, seemed to cover it with a golden snow. The 
miners were returning to their log huts with their implements 
of labour slung over their shoulders, and their tin pans con- 
taining the precious metal in their hands. ¥^e learned 
that the ^'dry diggings" for which we had started, were 
three miles further into the mountains, that there was a 
great scarcity of water, and that but very little could be 
accomplished before the commencement of the rainy reason. 
Finding some old friends here, who generously offered us a 
."chance" upon the mud floor of their log cabin, we remained 
with them for the night, and stretching our blankets upon 
the floor and lighting our pipes, were soon engaged in an 
interesting conversation on the all-absorbing topic. 

Next morning our party arrived with the team, and from 
the representations of our friends, we concluded to remain 
at Weaver's Creek, and pitched our tent on the banks of 
the stream. Our teamster's bill was something of an item 
to men who were not as yet accustomed to *' gold-mine 



58 A teamster's bill. 

prices." We paid three hundred dollars for the transpor- 
tation, about fifty miles, of three barrels of flour, one of 
pork, and about two hundred pounds of small stores, being 
at the rate of thirty dollars per cwt. This was the regular 
price charged by teamsters at that time, and of course 
there was no alternative but to pay, which we did, although 
it exhausted the last dollar belonging to our party. But 
there, before us, on the banks of that pretty stream and 
in the neighbouring gorges, lay the treasures that were to 
replenish our pockets, and the sigh for its departure was 
changed by this thought into a hope that our fondest wishes 
might be realized in our new and exciting occupation. 



CHAPTER lY. 



Our Log Cabin — Pi-pita-tua — Increase of our Party — The Dry Diggings 
of Weaver's Creek — The "Pockets" and "Nests" — Theory of the Gold 
Region — My First Day's Labour in the Placers — Extravagant Reports 
from the Middle Fork — Start for Culoma — Approach of the Rainy 
Season— The "Devil's Punch-Bowl." • 



The day after our arrival, in anticipation of the imme- 
diate commencement of the rainy season (a time dreaded 
by strangers in all California, and particularly in the 
northern region), we determined to build a log house, and 
were about to commence operations, when we received an 
offer for the sale of one. We examined it, and found a 
little box of unhewn logs, about twenty feet long by ten 
wide, which was offe'red us at the moderate price of five 
hundred dollars. The terms, however, were accommoda- 
ting, being ten days' credit for the whole amount. With 
the reasonable expectation that we could pay for our house 
by gold-digging in a less time than it would require to build 
one, we purchased it, and ere nightfall were duly installed 
in the premises. 

Our party now consisted of ten, viz. : Higgins and a 
Marquesas Islander he had picked up somewhere, and who 
had changed his heathenish appellation of Pi-pita-tua to 
the more Christian and civilized name of "Bob;" five of 
our disbanded volunteers ; a man by the name of Russell, 
the same of whom Dana speaks in his " Two Years before 



60 THE DRY DIGGINGS. 

the Mast," and who had persuaded us to allow him to join 
us; the captain of the little launch "Ann," who had deter- 
mined to leave the sea to try his fortune at gold-hunting, 
and myself. We were a queer-looking party. I had 
thrown aside all the little ornaments of dress, and made 
my best bow before the gold-digging public in red flan- 
nel and corduroy. Bob was the only member of the con- 
cern who retained what he had always in his own land 
considered his peculiar ornament. Right glad would he 
have been to rid himself of it now, poor fellow, but it was 
too indelibly stamped to allow of removal. It was a broad 
piece of blue tattooing that covered his eye on one side, 
and the whole cheek on the other, and gave him the ap- 
pearance of a man looking from behind a blue screen. Our 
partnership did not extend to a community of labour in 
gold-digging, but only to a sharing of the expenses, trials, 
and labours of our winter life. 

The "dry diggings" of Weaver's Creek being a fair 
specimen of dry diggings in all parts of the mining region, 
a description of them will give the reader a general idea of 
the various diggings of the same kind in Caiifornia. They 
are called "dry" in contradistinction to the "wet" dig- 
gings, or those lying directly on the banks of streams, and 
where all the gold is procured by washing. As I before 
said, the stream coursed between lofty tree-clad hills, 
broken on both sides of the river into little ravines or 
gorges. In these ravines most of the gold was found. The 
loose stones and top earth being thrown off, the gravelly 
clay that followed it was usually laid aside for washing, 
and the digging continued until the bottom rock of the ra- 
vine was reached, commonly at a depth of from one to six 
feet. The surface of this rock was carefully cleared off, 
and usually found to contain little crevices and holes, the 
hitter in miner's parlance called " pockets," and in which 



THE DRY DIGGINGS. 61 

the gold was found concealed, sparkling like the treasures 
in the cave of Monte Cristo. A careful examination of the 
rock being made, and every little crevice and pocket being 
searched with a sharp pointed-knife, gold in greater or 
less quantities invariably made its appearance. I shall 
never forget the delight with which I first struck and 
worked out a crevice. It was the second day after our 
installation in our little log hut ; the first having been em- 
ployed in what is called "prospecting," or searching for 
the most favourable place at which to commence opera- 
tions. I had slung pick, shovel, and bar upon my shoul- 
der, and trudged merrily away to a ravine about a mile 
from our house. Pick, shovel, and bar did their duty, and 
I soon had a large rock in view. Getting down into the 
excavation I had made, and seating myself upon the rock, 
I commenced a careful search for a crevice, and at last 
found one extending longitudinally along the rock. It ap- 
peared to be filled with a hard, bluish clay and gravel, 
which I took out with my knife, and there at the bottom, 
strewn along the whole length of the rock, was bright, 
yellow gold, in little pieces about the size and shape of a 
grain of barley. Eureka ! Oh how my heart beat ! I 
sat still and looked at it some minutes before I touched it, 
greedily drinking in the pleasure of gazing upon gold that 
was in my very grasp, and feeling a sort of independent 
bravado in allowing it to remain there. When my eyes 
were sufiiciently feasted, I scooped it out with the point of 
my knife and an iron spoon, and placing it in my pan, ran 
home with it very much delighted. I weighed it, and 
found that my first day's labour in the mines had made 
me thirty-one dollars richer than I was in the morning. 

The gold, which, by some great volcanic eruption, has 
been scattered upon the soil over an extensive territory, 
by the continual rains of the winter season has been sunk 



Oli TUKOKY OF TUK GOLD KKOIOX. 

into the hills, until it has roaohod either a hard elay which 
it eannot penetrate, or a roek on which it rests. The irold 
in the hills, by the continual rains, has been washing 
lower and lower, until it has reached the ravines. It has 
washed down the ravines until it has there reached the 
roek, and thence, it has washed along the bed of the 
ravines until it has found some little crevice in which it 
rests, where the water can carry it no farther. Here it 
gathers, and thus are formed the "pockets" and ** nests" 
of gold, one of which presents such a glowing golden sight 
to the eye of the miner, and such a field for his imagina- 
tion to revel in. How often, when I have struck one of 
these, have 1 fondly wished that it might reach to the cen- 
tre of the earth, and be tilled as it was at its mouth with 
pure, bright, yellow gold. 

Our party's first day's labour produced one hundred 
and fifty dollars, 1 having been the most successful of all. 
Rut we were satisfied, although our experience had not ful- 
filled the golden stories we had heard previous to our 
reaehinij the phnurs. Finding; the averaire amount of 
gold dug on ^Veaver's Creek at that time to be about an 
ounce per day to a man, we were content so long as we 
could keep pace with our neighbours. There is a spirit of 
emulation among miners which prevents them from being 
ever satisfied with success whilst others around them are 
more successful. We continued our labours for a Aveek, 
and found, at the end of that time, our whole party had dug 
out more than a thousand dollars; and after paying for 
our house, and settling between ourselves our little private 
expenses, we were again on a clear track, unencumbered 
by debt, and in the heart of a region where txeiisures of 
unknown wealth were lying hidden in the earth on which 
we daily trod. 



KXTUAT.\(L\NT llErOIlTS FRORf TllM ]M1I>1>M'] VOIIK. (58 

About this tiiuo, the most oxtravii^ant. reports roaoluMl 
ns from the Middle Fork, distant in a. northerly direction 
about thirty miles from Weaver's Creek. Parties ^\\\o had 
been there described the river as beinij; lined with <i;old of 
the fniest (|uality. One and two hundred dollars was not 
considered a. great day's labour, and now was the tinu) to 
take advantage of it, while in its pristine richness. The 
news Avas too bloominii; for me to withstand. 1 threw 
do>Yn my pickaxe, and leaving a. half-wr(Uiij;ht crevice for 
souu^ other digger to work out, I ])ackeil up and ludd my- 
self in readiness to proceed by the earliest opportunity, 
anil with the first party ready to go for the Middle Fork. 
An opportunity soon offered itself, as a party of three Avho 
had already been there and returned, Avere about proceed- 
ing thither again. Wo considered it a great act of generosity 
on their part to allow us to accompany them on their se- 
cond trip, as during their first exploration on the river 
they had found a place where no white man had ever be- 
fore trod, and where gold was said to exist in largo pockets 
and huge bulky masses. One of my companions and my- 
self determined to go, and if successfid inform our whole 
party, who were then to follow. 

It was now near the middle of December, and the 
dreaded rainy season we knew must soon commence. 
Occasional black clouds dimming the clearness of that 
mountain sky gave us warning of it ; but strong in health, 
and stronger still in hope and determination, we heeded 
no warning ; put our instruments of labour on the backs of 
two sorry-looking mules, and shouldering our rifles started 
away from Weaver's Creek on a fine afternoon, the clear 
sunshine and cooling autumn breeze playing through the 
lofty oak and cypress trees, giving us new vigour and new 
hope. 



tU START r\i> V I LOMA. 

Our road for the first three miles lav across a loftv hill, 
which formed the dividing line (^although that hill this 
auTthing but an ** imaginary point e>:t ended'') between 
our little communitv at Weaver's Creek and the **Dry 
Diggings** jhir t'XiY//<*HtY of that vicinitT. On descending 
the hilh we found the drv diggings in a prettv little valloT 
surrounded by hills, and forming a town of about fifty log 
houses. Very little was doing there, howerer, at that 
time, as the gold -was so intermixed with a clayey soil, 
that w-ater was necessary to separate it, and the miners 
were patiently waiting for the rainy season to set in. 
Many had thrinvu up huge mountain-like piles of earth, 
swad making thereby a large exc^avation intended, when the 
rain came, to catch the water in which the golden earth 
Tras to be washed. I will give a history of the discovery 
and progress of these ** diggings" in another part of the 
volume. 

Passing to the northward of the Dry Diggings, we en- 
camped at dusk in a little oak grove alx»ut three miles 
from Sutter's Mill, killed a deer, ate a hearty supper, 
spread our blankets on the ground, and slept quietly and 
peacefully beneaUi a starsjituddeil and cloudless heaven. 
2^ext morning we went into Culoma, the Indian name for 
the territory arc^uud Sutter's Mill, and here we were to 
puivhase our provisions previous to g\nng to the river. 
Three stores only, at that time, disputed the trade at what 
is now the great centre of the northern mining region; and 
where now are busy streets, and long rows of tents and 
houses, was a Wautiful hollow, which, in our romantic ver- 
sion, wo named as we were entering it, '*The Devil's 
Punch-EowL' Surrvnindevl on all sivles by lofty moim- 
tains, its ingress and egress guai\led by an ascent and de- 
scent through narrow passes, it seemed like a huge bowl 



'» THE PKVIL § PrNCH-BOWL. 0^*> 

which some lofty spirit might seize, and placing it to his lips, 
quaff tl\o waters of the golden stream that circled through 
it. Here it was that gold was tirst discovered in California; 
this vnvs the loeality where wns commenced a new* era. and 
where a new page was opened in the history of mankind; 
and it is proper that I should turn out my mules to hroAvse 
on the sunny hill-side shrubbery, ^vlnle 1 stop to tell how\ 
from this remote corner of the gU \ ; .:; was revealed 
to the eyes of a wondering world. 



oil AFTER V. 

Suttei*'s ^nil — T>isoovevy of the Placers! — ^Irtvshrtll and Bennett — Groat 
Excitement — Desertion of the Fucb/os, and general Rush for the 
Mines — Oiold Mine Vrioes — Descent into a Canon — Danks of the Mid- 
dle Fork— fan AVashing — Oood Luck— Onr Camp— Territio Rain 
Storm — Sudden Rise of the River. 

Dnuxi^ the month of January, 1848, two men, named 
^[arshall and Bennett, "were engaged in the ereetion of a 
saw-mill located hv John A. Sutter on the South Fork of 
the Ameriean River, at a point, where oak, pine, cypress, 
and cedar trees covered the surrounding hills, and "svhere 
Indian labour was to be procured at a mere nominal price. 
These were the motives that prompted Sutter to establish 
a mill and trading post in this, then unknown, region. 
Little did he imagine or foresee that, in the hands of an 
overruling Providence, he was to be the instrument to dis- 
close to mankind riches of which the most sanguine day- 
dreamer never dreamt, and open caves in which the won- 
derful lamp of Aladdin would have been dimmed by the 
surrounding brightness. 

One morning ^larshall, while examining the tail-race of 
the mill, discovered, much to his astonishment, some small 
shining particles in the sand at the bottom of the race, 
which upon examination he became satisfied were gold. 
Not content, however, with his own investigations, some 
specimens which were found throughout the whole race 
were sent to San Francisco by Bennett, where an assayer 



68 DESERTION OF THE PUEBLOS. 

removed all doubt of their nature and purity. The dis- 
covery Tvas kept a profound secret while Bennett proceeded 
to Monterey and tried to obtain a grant of the land on 
which the gold had been found from Colonel Mason, then 
Governor of the Territory. Colonel Mason informed him, 
however, that he had no authority to make any such con- 
veyance, and Bennett returned to San Francisco, where he 
exhibited his specimens to Sam. Brannan, Mr. Hastings, 
and several others. A number of persons immediately 
visited the spot, and satisfied their curiosity. Captain 
Sutter himself came to San Francisco, and confirmed the 
statements of Bennett, and about the 1st of April, the 
story became public property. Of course, the news spread 
like wild fire, and in less than one week after the news 
reached Monterey, one thousand people were on their way 
to the gold region. The more staid and sensible citizens 
affected to view it as an illusion, and cautioned the people 
against the fearful reaction that would inevitably ensue. Yet 
many a man who one day boldly pronounced the discovery a 
humbug, and the gold-hunters little better than maniacs, was 
seen on the morrow stealthily wending his way, with a tin 
pan and shovel concealed beneath his cloak or serape, to a 
launch about proceeding up the golden Sacramento. Before 
the middle of July, the whole lower country was depopulated. 
Rancheros left their herds to revel in delightful liberty 
upon the hills of their ranchos ; merchants closed their 
stores, lawyers left their clients, doctors their patients, sol- 
diers took "French leave." Colonel Mason, then Governor 
of California, was himself seized with the "mania," and 
taking his adjutant and an escort, started for the mines, 
"in order to be better able to make a report to the Govern- 
ment." The alcalde of San Francisco stopped the wheels 
of justice, and went also. Every idler in the country, who 



GOLD-MINE PRICES. 69 

could piircliase, beg, or steal, a horse, was off, and ere the 
first of August the principal towns were entirely deserted. 

In San Francisco, the very headquarters of all the busi- 
ness in California, there were, at this time, but seven male 
inhabitants, and but one store open. In the mean time the 
most extravagant stories were in circulation. Hundreds 
and sometimes even thousands of dollars were spoken of 
as the reward of a day's labour. Indians were said to pay 
readily a hundred dollars for a blanket, sixteen for a bottle 
of grog, and everything else in proportion. In the mean 
time, new discoveries had been made at Mormon Island, 
as far north as the Yuba River, and as far south as the 
Stanislaus ; and the mining population had swelled to 
about three thousand. The stories that had been put in 
circulation in regard to the richness of the ijlacers were in 
the main true. A few months after their discovery I saw 
men, in whom I placed the utmost confidence, who assured 
me thai for days in succession they had dug from the 
bowels of the earth over five hundred dollars a day. 

But I have digressed in my narrative, and must now 
return to Culoma. We purchased from one of the stores 
two hundred pounds of flour, for which we paid three hun- 
dred dollars, one hundred pounds of pork for two hundred 
dollars, and sugar and coffee at a dollar a pound, amount- 
ing to another hundred dollars, making in all six hundred 
dollars expended for about two months' provisions. "We 
crossed the South Fork, and mounting a lofty hill over- 
looking the river, encamped for the night on its summit. 
The next day we descended the hill, and passing through 
a long and watered valley, struck the "■ divide" or ridge, 
which overhangs the river at a point three miles above the 
" Spanish Bar," at dusk. We again encamped, anxious 
for a long and invigorating sleep to prepare us for a de- 
scent in the morninff. 



TO DESCENT IXTO A CANOX. 

The hill was so stoop and entirely trackless and covered 
with such a thick scrubby brush, that we abandoned the 
idea which we had entertained of leading our mules with 
their packs on down to the river : and distributing the load, 
each one took his share of the half of it, and commenced 
the terrible descent into the canon. A jolly good fellow, 
named MGee, a brother officer of mine in the regiment, 
had a good-sized buck we had killed in the morning al- 
lotted as his burden, and, pioneer like, started ahead : I 
followed with a bag of flour, and the remainder variously 
burdened, brought up the rear. The hill was so steep, and 
so craggy, that in many places we arrived at jagged rocks 
where a perpendicular descent was to be made. At one of 
these, Mac, who was a wild, harum-scarum fellow, had found 
himself just upon its very verge, from a run or slide he 
had made above it. He was in a dangerous position, his 
buck slung over his shoulders, and his only hope was to 
precipitate the animal down the crag into a gulf that 
yawned below. Down went the buck, and Mac as quickly 
as possible followed it ; he found it two or three hun- 
dred yards bolow us, rendered amazingly tender by its 
vovase. The descent wa^ a terrible and tedious one, and 
when about half way down, we first discovered the river, 
looking like a little rivulet, winding through its rock- 
girdled banks. About noon, after a two hours* tiresome 
travel, we reached our camping-place on the narrow river 
bank, and, depositing our loads, again ascended for the re- 
mainder of our provisions. 

The banks of the Middle Fork, on which we encamped, 
\rere rugged and rocky. Awful and mysterious mountains 
of huge granite boulders towered aloft with solemn gran- 
deur, seeming piled up upon each other as though some 
destroying angel had stood on the summit of the lofty hills 
and cast promiscuously these rocks, headlong down the 
steep. 



GOOD LUCK. 71 

What a wild scone was before us ! A river rapidly 
ooursiiig through a pile of rooks, and on each side of it 
hills that seemed to reach the clouds. The mountains that 
overlook this river are about tvro miles in height, and are 
probably as difficult of travel as any in the world. 

It puzzled us greatly to find a camping-place, although 
we had no tent to pitch, and only wanted room to spread 
our blankets on a rock. I searched the river up and down 
for fifty yards in this laudable endeavour, and finally suc- 
ceeded in finding a little triangular crevice, formed by two 
boulders resting against each other, into which T crept, and 
slept that night, with the pleasant anticipation that the rocks 
above might possibly give way, in which case my gold- 
digging dreams would meet with a woful denouement by 
my being crushed to atoms. No such fate overtook me, 
however, and the next morning I arose fresh and hearty, to 
commence my first day's labour on the golden banks of the 
Middle Fork. 

We had packed on the back of one of our mules a suffi- 
cient number of boards from Culoma to construct a machine, 
and the morning after our arrival placed two of our party 
at work for this purpose, while the rest of us were to dig ; 
and. taking our pans, crowbars, and picks, we commenced 
operations. Our first attempt was to search around the 
base of a lofty boulder, which weighed probably some 
twenty tons, in hopes of finding a crevice in tlie rock on 
which it rested, in which a deposit of gold might have been 
made ; nor were we unsuccessful. Around the base of the 
rock was a filling up of gravel and clay, which we removed 
with much labour, when our eyes were gladdened with the 
siorht of ixold strewn all over its surfiice, and intermixed 
with a blackish sand. This we gathered tip and washed in 
our pans, and ere night four of us had dug and washed 
twentv-six ounces of irold, beinor about four hundi*ed and 



72 PAN-WASHING. 

sixteen dollars. The process of pan-washing is the simplest 
mode of separating the golden particles from the earth with 
which it is amalgamated. A common-sized tin pan is filled 
with the soil containing the gold. This is taken to the 
nearest water and sunk until the water overspreads the 
surface of the pan. The earth is then thoroughly mixed 
with water and the stones taken out with the hand. A 
half rotary motion is given to the pan with both hands ; 
and, as it is filled, it is lifted from the water, and the 
loose light dirt which rises to the surface washed out, 
until the bottom of the pan is nearly reached. The gold 
being heavier than the earth, sinks by its own weight to 
the bottom, and is there found at the close of the washing, 
mixed with a heavy black sand. This is placed in a cup 
or another pan till the day's labour is finished, when the 
whole is dried before the fire and the sand carefully blown 
away. The gold which we found the first day was princi- 
pally procured by washing, although two pieces, one weigh- 
ing thirteen and the other seventeen dollars, were taken 
from a little pocket on the rock. We returned to camp 
exceedingly elated with our first attempt ; and gathering 
some green branches of trees built a fire, cooked some 
venison, crawled into our holes and went to sleep. 

The next day, our machine being ready, we looked for a 
place to work it, and soon found a little beach, which ex- 
tended back some five or six yards before it reached the 
rocks. The upper soil was a light black sand, on the sur- 
face of which we could see the particles of gold shining, 
and could in fact gather them up with our fingers. In 
digging below this, we struck a red, stony gravel that ap- 
peared perfectly alive Avith gold, shining and pure. We 
threw off the top earth and commenced our washings with 
the gravel, which proved so rich, that, excited by curiosity, 
we weighed the gold extracted from the first washing of fifty 



OUR CAMP. 73 

pansful of earth, and found seventy-five dollars, or nearly 
five ounces of gold to be the result. We made six wash- 
ings during the day, and placed in our common purse that 
night a little over two pounds, — about four hundred dollars 
worth of gold dust. 

Our camp was merry that night. Seated on the surface 
of a huge rock, we cooked and ate our venison, drank our 
coiFee, and revelled in the idea that we had stolen away 
from the peopled world, and were living in an obscure 
corner, unseen by its inhabitants, with no living being 
within many miles of us, and in a spot where gold was 
almost as plentiful as the pebble stones that covered it. 

After working three days with the machine, the earth 
we had been washing began to give out, and it became ne- 
cessary for us to look for a new place : accordingly on the 
fourth morning, we commenced " prospecting." Three of 
us started down, and three up the river. I sauntered on 
ahead of the party on the lower expedition until, about 
three hundred yards from camp, I found a pile of rocks 
that I thought afibrded a reasonable "prospect." I 
started down to the river bank, and seated myself at the 
foot of a vast rock 'to look around me. I observed above 
me, and running in a direct course down the rocky bank, 
a large crevice, which I carefully searched as high up as I 
could reach, but found only a very small quantity of gold. 
Being disappointed in this, I determined to trace the cre- 
vice to its outlet, confident that there a deposit of gold 
must have been made. I traced the crevice down nearly 
to the edge of the water, where it terminated in a large 
hole or pocket, on the face of a rock which was filled with 
closely packed gravel. With a knife and spoon I dug this 
out, and till when near the bottom of the pocket, I found 
the earth which I brought up in my spoon contained gold, 
and the last spoonful I took from the pocket was nearly 

7 



74 "prospecting." 

pure gold in little lumpy pieces. I gathered up all the 
loose gold, when I reached the stony bottom of the pocket, 
which appeared to be of pure gold, but upon probing it, I 
found it to be only a thin covering which by its own weight 
and the pressure above it, had spread and attached itself 
to the rock. Crossing the river, I continued my search, 
and, after digging some time, struck upon a hard, reddish 
clay, a few feet from the surface. After two hours' work, I 
succeeded in finding a "pocket" out of which I extracted 
three lumps of pure gold, and one small piece mixed with 
oxydized quartz. Elated with my good luck, I returned 
to camp, and weighing the gold, found the first lot amounted 
to twelve and a half ounces, or two hundred dollars, and 
the four lumps last found, to weigh sixteen and three quar- 
ter ounces. The largest pieces weighed no less than seven 
ounces troy. " My success this day was, of course, entirely 
the result of accident ; but another of the party had also 
found a pocket containing about two hundred and seventy 
dollars, and a place which promised a rich harvest for our 
machine. 

The gold thus found in pockets and crevices upon the 
river banks, is washed from the hills above them. In 
searching for the course of the metal, I have found small 
quantities by digging on the hill-tops, and am fully per- 
suaded that the gold is washed by the rains, until seeking, 
as it always does, a permanent bottom, it rests in any pocket 
or crevice that can prevent it from being washed further, 
or falls into a stream running at the base of the hills, to 
find a resting-place in its bed, or be again deposited on its 
banks. If this theory be true, the beds of the rivers whose 
banks contain gold must be very rich in the precious 
metal, and recent labours in damming and turning the 
courses of certain portions of them, have so proved. The 
richest deposits of gold upon the rivers are found on what 



TERRIFIC RAIN STORM. 75 

are called the "bars." These bars are places where there 
is an extension of the bank into the river, and round which 
the stream winds, leaving, of course, a greater amount of sur- 
face than there is upon the bank generally. They are 
covered with large rocks deeply imbedded in the soil, which 
upon most of them is a red gravel, extending to the solid 
formation of rock beneath. 

There are two theories upon which the superior richness 
of the bars can be accounted for. The first is, that the 
river in its annual overflows has made the deposits of gold 
here, and that being more level and broad than the river's 
banks, they retain a larger quantity of the gold thus de- 
posited. The other, and the only one that accounts for 
the formation of the bars themselves, is, that where they 
now are, the river formerly ran; and that they were 
once the river's bed, but that from some natural cause, the 
channel has been changed and a new one made ; and thus, 
are left dry, these large portions of the river's bed which 
annually receive fresh deposits of gold from it in its over- 
flow. 

We were all ready to commence operations on our new 
place in the morning, when, on waking, we found the sky 
hazy, and soon after breakfast a severe rain set in. We 
crept into our holes and remained there through the day, 
hoping for a cessation of the rain before the morning, but it 
continued pouring in torrents. Never have I seen rain come 
down as it did then and there ; not only the '' windows" 
but the very floodgates "of heaven" seemed opened upon 
us, and through that doleful night we lay upon our 
blanketed rocks, listening to the solemn music of the swol- 
len river rushing rapidly by us, and the big rain torrents 
pouring upon its breast. In the morning we found that 
the river had risen four feet, and observing, high above our 
camp, the marks of the height to which it had attained 



76 SUDDEN KISE OF THE RIVER. 

during previous seasons, we judged it prudent to be looking 
for higher quarters. The rain continued raising the river 
through the second and third days, nearly three feet more, 
until it nearly reached our rock-couches. We talked the 
matter over, and determined to leave the next day, and 
return to our winter quarters on Weaver's Creek. We 
felt, of course, a profound sorrow at leaving our rich spot, 
after having satisfied ourselves that a few months' labour 
in it would make us all wealthy men, — after having suc- 
ceeded, with great labour, in transporting to it two or 
three months' provisions, and having suffered so much 
by resting (if resting it could be called) our labour- 
wearied bones upon rocks of the most unaccommodating 
and inelastic character. But the dreaded rainy season 
we knew had commenced, and rosy health w'as better than 
the brightest gold, so we stowed away our provisions with 
the exception of what we supposed would be requisite for 
our journey homeward, and on the fourth morning after 
the rain commenced, took our line of march up the formi- 
dable hill. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Mormon Exploration of the Middle Fork — Headquarters of the Gold- 
hunters — The North Fork — Smith's Bar — Damming — Great Luck of a 
Frenchman and his Son — Kelsey's Bar — Rise and Fall of the Rivers — 
Return to Weaver's Creek — Agricultural Prospects — Culoma Saw- 
mill — An Extensive and Expensive Breakfast — "Prospecting" on the 
South Fork — Winter Quarters — Snow-storm — A Robbery — Summary 
Justice — Garcia, Bissi, and Manuel — Lynch Law — Trial for attempt 
to Murder — Execution of the Accused — Fine Weather — How the Gold 
became distributed — Volcanic Craters. 

The banks of the Middle Fork have proved richer than 
those of any other tributary of the Sacramento River. The 
fork is the central one of three streams, which rise in the 
Sierra Nevada, and course their way to the American Fork, 
a large branch of the Sacramento, into which they empty. 
The first exploration of the Middle Fork was made in the 
latter part of June, 1848, by a party of Mormons who had 
been at work upon the South Fork, and had left them for 
the hills in search of richer deposits than were found there. 
The first diggings were made at the Spanish Bar, which is 
about twelve miles in a direct line from Sutter's Mill, and 
has yielded at least a million of dollars. The Middle Fork 
has now been explored to its very source in the Sierra, but 
has not been found so rich above as it was below. Since 
my first trip there, I have travelled for thirty miles on 
both its banks, and never yet washed a pan of its earth 
without finding gold in it. When the immense tide of emi- 
gration began to pour in from the United States, the Mid- 

7^ 



78 DAMMING. 

die Fork was the grand headquarters of the enthusiastic 
gold-hunters, and its banks have been torn to their very 
bottoms, and incalculable treasures taken from them. 
Within the past summer and fall, at least ten thousand 
people have been at work upon this river, and at the fair 
average of one ounce, or even ten dollars per day to a 
man, more than ten millions of dollars worth of gold dust 
have been extracted on this river alone. Its banks having 
ceased to furnish a very large amount of gold, the river 
itself has in many places been diverted from its wonted 
course, a channel dug for it through a bar, and its bed 
wrought, — in many cases yielding an immense quantity of 
the precious metal, and in others, comparatively nothing. 
This is now about the only profitable labour that can be 
performed here, as the banks of the stream have been 
completely riddled ; but when companies with capital and 
scientific mining apparatus shall commence operations here, 
a rich harvest will follow. 

About ten miles beyond the Middle Fork, and coursing 
in the same direction, is another stream, the North Fork, 
whose banks have proved nearly equal in richness to those 
of the Middle Fork. Within the past spring and summer 
some fifteen points on this river have been dammed, the 
channel turned, and the bed of the river dug. In one 
case, a party of five dammed the river near what is now 
called "Smith's Bar." The time employed in damming 
off a space of some thirty feet was about two weeks, after 
which from one to two thousand dollars a day were taken 
out by the party, for the space of ten days, — the whole 
amount of gold extracted being fifteen thousand dollars. 
Another party above them made another dam, and in one 
week took out five thousand dollars. In other cases, where 
unfavourable points in the river were selected, little or no 
gold was found ; and a fair average of the amount taken 



kelsey's bar. 79 

out, in parts of the river which were dammed, I think I 
can safely state at fifty dollars per day to a man. 

Here is an immense field for a combination of capital 
and labour. As yet no scientific apparatus has been intro- 
duced, and severe manual labour alone has produced such 
golden results. When steam and money are united for 
the purpose, I doubt not that the whole waters of the 
North and Middle Forks will be turned from their channels, 
and immense canals dug through the rugged mountains to 
bear them off. There are placers upon the Middle Fork, 
where, within a space of twenty square feet, are lying un- 
disturbed pounds of gold. This may appear startling ; 
but facts and experience have led me to an analogical mode 
of reasoning, which has proved it to my own mind con- 
clusively. A Frenchman and his boy, who were working 
on the Middle Fork in November, 1848, found a place in 
the river where they could scrape from the bottom the 
sands which had gathered in the crevices and pockets of 
the rocks. These were washed in a machine, and in four 
days' time the father and son had taken from the river's 
bed three thousand dollars, and this with nothing but a 
hoe and spade. T-^'o men on Kelsey's Bar, on the Middle 
Fork, adopted the same process, and in two days washed 
from the earth, thus procured, fifty pounds of gold, amount- 
ing to nearly ten thousand dollars. The great difficulty 
in the way of labouring in this manner is, that there are 
very few places where the water is sufficiently shallow to 
permit it, and the river bed is so rocky, and the current so 
strong, that it is only in places where it becomes a pool 
of still water that the soil can be taken from its bottom. 

The width of the Middle Fork is in most places about 
thirty feet, and that of the North a little less. The cur- 
rent of both rivers is very strong, being at the rate of five 
or six miles an hour. The beds of these rivers are com- 



80 RISE AND FALL OF THE RIVERS. 

posed of huge rocks, tumbled together as they are upon 
the banks ; and it is in the crevices and pockets of these 
rocks that the gold has secreted itself. Where the stream 
is narrow and the current strong, the probability is that 
there is but little gold ; but where it expands, and the 
water becomes more quiet, the gold has settled peacefully, 
there to remain till the hand of some irreverent Yankee 
shall remove it from its hiding-place. 

During the months of September, October, and Novem- 
ber, and sometimes a part of December, the rivers are at 
their lowest ebb, when the water is from three to eight 
feet deep in the Middle and North Forks. In the latter 
part of December, or the early part of January, when the 
yearly rains commence, the rivers become swollen, some- 
times rising eight or ten feet in the course of a week's 
rain. During the winter the rivers are continually rising 
and falling, as the rains cease or commence again. About 
the first of March, the snows which have fallen during the 
winter begin to melt on the mountains, and flow in little 
streams down the mountain sides. Every warm day raises 
the rivers perceptibly, sometimes to the extent of four feet 
in a single day, so that in the heat of summer they are 
fifteen feet higher than in the fall. The only practi- 
cable time for damming is in the fall, or early in the 
spring. 

"When I dropped the thread of this narrative, I left 
myself about to start up the hill on my return with 
the remainder of the party to Weaver's Creek. We 
found the journey up more toilsome than it had been 
before, as the soil Was reduced to a pasty consistency, into 
which we sank ankle deep at every step, and the rocks 
were rendered so slimy and slippery by the rain, that it 
was with great difficulty we could maintain our foothold 
when climbing over them. After a tedious three hours' 



AN EXTENSIVE AND EXPENSIVE BREAKFAST. 81 

struggle, however, we succeeded in reaching the top, where 
we encamped again, and the next day travelled to the 
summit of the hill which overlooks Culoma. There we 
again encamped, and the following morning entered the 
settlement. The country between the mill and the Middle 
Fork is made up of a succession of hills, covered with oak 
trees, and interspersed with beautifully watered valleys. 
In these valleys the soil is a rich black loam, while the 
hills are barren, and of a red, gravelly soil. As yet no 
attempts at agriculture have been made in this region, but 
I am satisfied that the valleys would produce the common 
field crops in great profusion. 

We reached the mill about nine o'clock in the morning, 
a little too late to get a breakfast at one of the stores, 
where sometimes the proprietor was sufficiently generous 
to accommodate a traveller with a meal for the moderate 
price of five dollars. The only resource was to lay a cloth 
on the storekeeper's counter, and make a breakfast on 
crackers, cheese, and sardines. In order not to make a 
rush upon the trade, we divided ourselves into three parties, 
each going to a difi'erent store. Mac and myself went 
together, and made- a breakfast from the following items ; 
— one box of sardines, one pound of sea-biscuit, one pound 
of butter, a half-pound of cheese, and two bottles of 
ale. We ate and drank with great gusto, and, when we 
had concluded our repast called for the bill. It was such 
a curiosity in the annals of a retail grocery business, that 
I preserved it, and here are the items. It may remind 
some of Falstaff 's famous bill for bread and sack. 

One box of sardines, - - - - - -$16 00 

One pound of hard bread, ----- 2 00 

One pound of butter, ------ 6 00 

A half-pound of cheese, ------ 3 00 

Two bottles of ale, 16 00 

Total, $43 00 



82 PROSPECTING ON THE SOUTH FORK. 

A pretty expensive breakfast, thought we ! If I ever 
get out of these hills, and sit and sip my coffee and eat an 
omelet, at a mere nominal expense, in a marble palace, 
with a hundred waiters at my back, I shall send back a 
glance of memory at the breakfast I ate at Culoma saw- 
mill. 

"We laid over at the mill during the day, and travelled 
a mile or two up and down the South Fork "prospecting." 
It appeared remarkable that here, where the gold was first 
discovered, and while hundreds and thousands were crowd- 
ing to the mines, not a single man was at work upon the 
South Fork. But very little digging has ever been done 
at the mill, although I doubt not there will yet be found 
vast deposits of gold on the banks of the South Fork. 
We tried several places, and invariably found gold, but in 
such small quantities that we thought it would not be pro- 
fitable to work there ; and the day after, as the rain had 
ceased, we went into "Weaver's Creek, with a huge load of 
blankets on our backs, sweatins; under a broiling sun. 

We found our companions there, anxiously waiting for 
our return, and eager to listen to the glowing report we 
made them of our early success, but disappointed almost 
as much as we were at the unfortunate ending of the 
affair. We determined to settle down quietly for the rest 
of the winter in our log house, and take our chance among 
the dry diggings. It had by this time commenced snow- 
ing ; and from the first until the fifteenth of January it 
continued falling heavily, so that by the middle of January 
it was about four feet deep on a level. All labour was of 
course suspended, and we lay by in our log house, and 
amused ourselves by playing cards, reading, washing our 
clothing, and speculating on the future results of gold- 
digging. By the middle of January the snow ceased, and 
the rain again commenced ; and in a few days, the snow 



SUMMARY JUSTICE. 83 

having been entirely washed off the surface, we anticipated 
being soon able to recommence operations. 

A scene occurred about this time that exhibits in a 
striking light, the summary manner in which "justice" is 
dispensed in a community where there are no legal tri- 
bunals. We received a report on the afternoon of January 
20th, that five men had been arrested at the dry diggings, 
and were under trial for a robbery. The circumstances 
were these : — A Mexican gambler, named Lopez, having 
in his possession a large amount of money, retired to 'his 
room at night, and was surprised about midnight by five 
men rushing into his apartment, one of whom applied a 
pistol to his head, while the others barred the door and 
proceeded to rifle his trunk. An alarm being given, some 
of the citizens rushed in, and arrested the whole party. 
Next day they were tried by a jury chosen from among the 
citizens, and sentenced to receive thirty-nine lashes each, 
on the following morning. Never having witnessed a 
punishment inflicted by Lynch-law^, I went over to the dry 
diggings on a clear Sunday morning, and on my arrival, 
found a large crowd collected around an oak tree, to which 
was lashed a man "svith a bared back, while another was 
applying a raw cowhide to his already gored flesh. A 
guard of a dozen men, w^ith loaded rifles pointed at the 
prisoners, stood ready to fire in case of an attempt being 
made to escape. After the whole had been flogged, some 
fresh charges were preferred against three of the men — 
two Frenchmen, named Garcia and Bissi, and a Chileno, 
named Manuel. These were charged with a robbery and 
attempt to murder, on the Stanislaus River, during the 
previous fall. The unhappy men were removed to a neigh- 
bouring house, and being so weak from their punishment 
as to be unable to stand, were laid stretched upon the floor. 
As it was not possible for them to attend, they were tried 



84 EXECUTION OF THE ACCUSED. 

in the open air, in their absence, by a crowd of some two 
hundred men, who had organized themselves into a jury, 
and appointed a pro tempore judge. The charges against 
them were well substantiated, but amounted to nothing 
more than an attempt at robbery and murder ; no overt 
act being even alleged. They were known to be bad men, 
however, and a general sentiment seemed to prevail in the 
crowd that they ought to be got rid of. At the close of 
the trial, which lasted some thirty minutes, the Judge put 
to vote the question whether they had been proved guilty. 
A universal affirmative was the response ; and then the 
question, " AMiat punishment shall be inflicted ?" was 
asked. A brutal-looking fellow in the crowd, cried out, 
"Hang them." The proposition was seconded, and met 
with almost universal approbation. I mounted a stump, 
and in the name of God, humanity, and law, protested 
against such a course of proceeding ; but the crowd, by this 
time excited by frequent and deep potations of liquor from 
a neighbouring gi'oggery, would listen to nothing contrary 
to their brutal desires, and even threatened to hang me if 
I did not immediately desist from any further remarks. 
Somewhat fearful that such might be my fate, and seeing 
the utter uselessness of further argument with them, I 
ceased, and prepared to witness the horrible tragedy. 
Thirty minutes only were allowed the unhappy victims 
to prepare themselves to enter on the scenes of eternity. 
Three ropes were procured, and attached to the limb of a 
tree. The prisoners were marched out, placed upon a 
wagon, and the ropes put round their necks. No time 
was given them for explanation. They vainly tried to 
speak, but none of them understanding English, they were 
obliged to employ their native tongues, which but few of 
those assembled understood. Vainly they called for an 
interpreter, for their cries were drowned by the yells of a 



FINE WEATHER. 85 

now infuriated mob. A black handkerchief was bound 
around the eyes of each ; their arms were pinioned, and at 
a given signal, without priest or prayer-book, the wagon 
was drawn from under them, and they were launched into 
eternity. Their graves were dug ready to receive them, 
and when life was entirely extinct, they were cut down and 
buried in their blankets. This was the first execution I 
ever witnessed. — God grant that it may be the last ! 

The bad weather had cleared off, and our gold-digging 
life was again commenced ; and the little ravines that ran 
down from the hillsides afforded us ample field for labour. 
The regularity and extent with which the gold is scattered 
in California is remarkable. When wearied with our con- 
tinual labour in the immediate vicinity of our house, we 
would sometimes start on a "prospecting" expedition some 
five or six miles distant. During all these searches I have 
never yet struck a pickaxe into a ravine without finding 
gold, — sometimes, however, in such small quantities as not 
to justify the expenditure of individual manual labour. 
Through this vast territory it is scattered everywhere, as 
plentifully as the rich blessings of the Providence that 
created it. Our labours usually yielded us sixteen dollars 
per day to each man throughout the whole winter. 

Various have been the speculations upon the manner in 
which the gold became distributed in the gold-region of 
California. Some have supposed that, like the stones that 
cover the earth's surface, it was always there ; and others, 
that it has sprung from some great fountain-head, and by 
a tremendous volcanic eruption been scattered over an 
extensive territory. With these latter I agree ; and ob- 
servation and experience have proved to me most conclu- 
sively the truth of this theory. The gold found in every 
placer in California bears the most indubitable marks of 
having, at some time, been in a molten state. In many 



86 HOW THE GOLD BECAME DISTRIBUTED. 

parts it is closely intermixed with quartz, into which it 
has evidently been injected while in a state of fusion ; 
and I have myself seen many pieces of gold completely 
coated with a black cement that resembled the lava of a 
volcano. The variety of form, which the placer gold of 
California has assumed, is in itself sufficient evidence of 
the fact that it has been thrown over the surface while in 
a melted state. The earliest comparisons of the California 
gold were to pieces of molten lead dropped into water. 
The whole territory of the gold region bears the plainest 
and most distinct marks of being volcanic. The soil is of 
a red, brick colour, in many places entirely barren, and 
covered with a flinty rock or pebble, entirely parched in 
the summer, and during the rainy season becoming a per- 
fect mire. The formation of tlic hills, the succession of 
gorges, the entire absence of fertility in many portions, 
distinctly exhibit the result of a great up-heaving during 
past times. But there is one phenomenon in the mining 
region which defies all geological research founded upon 
any other premises than volcanic formation. Throughout 
the whole territory, so generally that it has become an in- 
dication of the presence of gold, a white slate rock is found, 
and is the principal kind of rock in the mining region. 
This rock, instead of lying, as slate rock does in other por- 
tions of the earth, in horizontal strata, is perpendicular, 
or nearly so ; seeming to have been torn up from its very 
bed and left in this position. On the banks of the Middle 
Fork are several excavations, which can only be accounted 
for upon the supposition that they were at some time vol- 
canic craters. There is one of these on the mountain side, 
about five miles below the "Big Bar;" from which, run- 
nins; down to the base of the mountains, is a wide sorore 
entirely destitute of verdure, while the earth around it is 
covered with sbrubbory, This, T am fiiHv convinced, was 



VOLCAKIC ERUPTIONS. 87 

the bed of the hwa stream that was thrown up from the 
crater ; and in searching for gold at the foot of it, I found 
several pieces entirely covered with the black cement or 
lava, of which I have previously spoken. From all these 
evidences, I am fully satisfied that at some early date in 
the world's history, by some tremendous volcanic eruption, 
or by a succession of them, gold, which was existing in the 
form of ore, mixed with quartz rock, was fused and sepa- 
rated from its surrounding substances, and scattered through 
every plain, hill, and valley, over an immense territory. 
By its own gravity, and the continual washing of the rains, 
it sank into the earth until it reached a rock, or hard, im- 
penetrable clay. It still continued washing and sliding 
down the hillside, until it reached the rivers or ravines, 
and in the former was washed along with its current until 
it settled in some secure place in their beds, or was de- 
posited upon their banks ; and in the latter, rested among 
the crevices of rocks. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Monotonous Life at Weaver's Creek — Dry Diggings Uncertain — Disco- 
very of a Rich Ravine — Great Results of One Day's Labour — Inva- 
sion of my Ravine — Weber and Dalor — The Indian Mode of Trading 
— A Mystery— Settlement of Weaverville — Price of Gold-dust in the 
Winter of 1848 — Gambling — Cost of Provisions — Opening of the 
Spring — Big Bar — Attack of the Land Scurvy — Symptoms and Treat- 
ment — Lucky Discovery — Progress of Culoma — Arrival of the First 
Steamer — Broadway Dandies wielding Pick and Shovel — Indian Out- 
rages — Capture and Execution of Redskins. 

Our life at Weaver's Creek became exceedingly monoto- 
nous. There were about three hundred people then at work 
at this point, and whenever a new ravine was opened, every- 
body swarmed to it, and in a few days it was " dug out." 
Moreover, dry digging is exceedingly uncertain. Where it 
is necessary to search among the crevices of rocks to find 
the gold deposits, one may at times dig and delve through 
the whole day without striking a single deposit of gold. 
In this respect they are entirely difi*erent and far inferior 
in point of certainty to the wet diggings upon the banks of 
rivers. In the latter, where the gold is nearly equally 
distributed among the earth, a certain amount of labour 
will produce a certain reward ; while in the former, success 
may not attend the operations of the gold-digger. There 
is a remarkable peculiarity in the gold of all dry diggings, 
which is, that the formation of gold in every ravine is dif- 
ferent, so much so that one acquainted with the character 

8* 



90 DISCOVERY OF A RICH RAVINE. 

of the gold in any certain region can easily tell by a glance 
at a piece of gold from what ravine it was extracted. This 
can only be accounted for on the theory, that in a narrow 
and deep ravine, where the water runs swiftly during the 
rainy season, the gold courses further over the rocks, and 
is more thoroughly washed, while in a shallow and wide 
ravine, where but little water runs, it settles upon the first 
rock on which it strikes, and retains its distinctive marks. 
Tired of the old ravines, I started one morning into 
the hills, with the determination of finding a new place, 
where I could labour without being distui'bed by the 
clang of picks and shovels around me. Striking in an 
easterly direction, I crossed a number of hills and gorges, 
until I found a little ravine about thirty feet in length 
embosomed amid low undulating hills. It attracted my 
attention, I know not why, and clearing ofi* a place about 
a yard in length, I struck the soil which contained the gold. 
The earth on the top was a light black gravel, filled 
with pebbly stones, which apparently contained no gold. 
Below this was another gravel of a reddish colour, and in 
which the fine particles of gold were so mingled that they 
shone and sparkled through the whole of it. A little pool 
of water, which the rains had formed just below me, afi"orded 
a favourable place to test the earth, and scooping up a 
pan-ful, I took it down and washed it, and it turned out 
about two dollars. I continued digging and washing until 
I reached a slate rock, in the crevices of which I found 
many little nests or clusters of gold, some of them contain- 
ing eight or ten dollars. These latter were intermixed 
with a heavy red clay from which the gold was almost in- 
separable. The gold was of the finest quality, both in size 
and richness, and I flattered myself that I had here at last 
found a quiet place, where I could labour alone and undis- 
turbed, and appropriate to myself the entire riches of the 



INVASION OF MY RAVINE. ^ 91 

whole ravine. When I reached and had explored the sur- 
face of the slate rock, I tried the experiment of breaking 
the rock itself into small pieces and washing it. This 
proved as rich as the red gravel, turning out two dollars 
to a pan-ful. The results of that day's labour were one 
hundred and ninety dollars worth of gold dust, and I re- 
turned to the house with a most profound secrecy resting 
on my countenance, and took good care not to expose to 
my companions the good luck I had experienced. But 
either my eyes betrayed me, or some prying individual had 
watched me, for the next morning, when busily at work in 
my ravine, I found myself suddenly surrounded by twenty 
good stout fellows, all equipped with their implements of 
labour. I could say or do nothing. Pre-emption rights 
are things unknown here, and the result of the matter was, 
that in three days the little ravine, which I had so fondly 
hoped would be my own property, was turned completely 
upside down. About ten thousand dollars worth of gold 
dust was extracted from it, from which I realized a little 
over a thousand. Merely the body of the ravine, however, 
was dug, and after it was entirely deserted, many a day I 
went to it, solitary and alone, and took from one to three 
ounces out of its banks. In the early discovery of the mines, 
and the first working of the " dry diggings," it was supposed 
that the gold existed only in the beds of the ravines. But 
since a more philosophical idea of the cause of gold deposits 
has been entertained, it is found that, in many cases, de- 
pending upon the character of the soil, the banks upon 
each side prove richer in gold than the ravines themselves. 
The gold having descended from the hillsides, should it 
before reaching the ravine strike a rocky gravel or hard 
clay, will remain there instead of descending farther; and 
thus it happens universally, that when gold is found upon 
the sides or banks of a ravine, the soil is of one of these 



92 WEBER AND DALOR. 

descriptions. Accident has proved this oftener than scien- 
tific reasoning. When we first reached Weaver's Creek, 
we found, in the very heart of the settlement, a ravine 
which seemed to have been completely "dug out," so 
much so that, by labouring in it, it would not yield five 
dollars a day to a man. Report said that nearly one 
hundred thousand dollars had been taken from it about the 
time of its discovery, and it was supposed there was little 
or none remaining. One day, however, about the first of 
February, an ignorant Irishman sank a hole about six feet 
deep on the bank, twelve feet from the bed of the ravine. 
He struck a hard, solid white clay, through which gold 
could scarcely penetrate, and by w^ashing it, took out the 
first day nearly one hundred dollars worth of gold. This, 
of course, attracted crowds to the old ravine, and before a 
week had elapsed, nearly fifteen thousand dollars had been 
taken from the place which was supposed to be entirely 
worthless. Among the prizes was one piece weighing 
twenty-eight ounces, and valued at four hundred and forty- 
eight dollars ; and I have no doubt that to this day the 
banks of many of the ravines are as rich in the pure metal 
as were their beds on the first discovery. 

The diggings upon Weaver's Creek were first wrought 
by a German, Charles M. Weber, a ranchero on the San 
Joaquin, w^io went thither in the early part of June. He 
carried with him articles of trade, and soon gathered around 
him a thousand Indians, w^ho worked for him in considera- 
tion of the necessaries of life and of little trinkets that so 
win an Indian's heart. He w^as soon joined by William 
Dalor, a ranchero near Sutter's Fort, and the two, together 
with the labour of the Indians, soon realized at least fifty 
thousand dollars. By this time, individual labourers began 
to come in, and one of Dalor's men one morning started 
into the hills for newer and fresher diggings. He struck 



\ 



THE INDIAN MODE OF TRADING. 93 

what was formerly called the "dry diggings," but which 
now goes by the euphonious name of "Hang-town," from 
the circumstance I have previously related as having oc- 
curred there. 

Indians still frequent this vicinity in considerable num- 
bers, having acquired a taste for the luxuries of mouldy 
bread, putrescent codfish, and jerked beef, which form so 
large a portion of the stock in trade of the provision-deal- 
ers who supply the miners. I have often been amused to 
witness the singular manner in which they make their pur- 
chases. When the gold was first discovered, they had very 
little conception of its value, and would readily exchange 
handfuls of it for any article of food they might desire, or 
any old garment gaudy enough to tickle their fancy. Lat- 
terly, however, they have become more careful, and exhibit 
a profounder appreciation of the worth of the precious 
metal. When they desire to make any purchases from a 
dealer, they usually go in a party of ten or twelve, and 
range themselves in a circle, sitting on the ground, a few 
yards distant from the shop, and then in a certain order of 
precedence, known to themselves, but not laid down in the 
learned Selden, they proceed to the counter in rotation, 
and make their purchases, as follows: placing on the palm 
of the hand a small leaf or piece of paper, on which is 
perhaps a tea-spoonful of gold dust, the Indian stalks up 
to the dealer, and pointing first at his dust in hand, and 
then at whatever article he may desire, gives a peculiar 
grunt — Ugh! — which is understood to mean an offer; if 
the dealer shakes his head, the Indian retires, and returns 
with a little more gold dust, going through the same cere- 
mony continually until a sufficient amount is ofi'ered, when 
the dealer takes it and hands over the coveted article. 
The only conceivable object of this mode of proceeding is 



94 A MYSTERY. 

that the poor creatures have been frequently plundered, 
and are afraid to trust themselves alone with a white man 
with too much gold upon their persons. Another peculi- 
arity is, that if, for instance, they should purchase half a 
dozen hard biscuits for a teaspoonful of gold, and want 
several dozen, they will return with one tea-spoonful 
more, obtain six biscuits and retire, and then return 
again, and so on until they have obtained the desired 
quantity. 

About the first of February, the rains and snows com- 
menced again wdth four-fold vigour, and continued through 
the whole month with little or no interruption. Inured, 
however, by our previous experience, and stimulated by 
an ambition that will carry men through dangers and 
difiiculties which else would appal them, we continued our 
labours in right good earnest, and returned many a night 
to our log hut drenched with the rains that had been pour- 
ing on us through the day. A blazing log fire, and a pipe 
of tobacco, compensated us for the hardships we had en- 
dured, and we were ready, the next morning, to undergo 
the same for the like object. One morning, after a 
severe rain storm and swell of the river, I was passing up 
its banks, and gazing earnestly upon it, when my atten- 
tion was suddenly arrested by the sight of gold lying scat- 
tered over the surface of the shore. I commenced gather- 
ing it up, and soon had exhausted it. How it came there 
I was never able to satisfactorily determine. Some of the 
pieces, to the weight of two and three dollars, were lying 
ten feet above the edge of the river's bank, and every 
little stone had gathered round it a greater or less quan- 
tity. The first day I picked up about four ounces, and 
waited for another rain. It came that night, and the next 
morning I found gold there again as plentiful as it had 
been the day before. In addition to this, I observed, in 



SETTLEMENT OF WEAVERVILLE. 95 

the crevice of a rock nearly in the centre of the stream, a 
large deposit; and though it was cold and wintry weather, 
I bared my nether limbs, and waded in to get it. With 
my sheath-knife I tore it from the crevice in a very few 
minutes, and hurried home to dry myself, and learn the 
extent of my good fortune. I found that the gold I had 
taken from the river's bed weighed nearly three ounces. 
For several days I continued to find gold daily scattered 
over the surface of the bank, when it suddenly disappear- 
ed, and I never saw more of it. How it came there was a 
jnystery which I have never been able to fathom. It 
was either rained dow^n from the clouds, thrown up by the 
river in its course, or was washed by the rains from the 
banks. The latter theory, however, I proved to be incor- 
rect by washing several pans of earth from the bank, 
which turned out little or nothing ; and the only plausible 
idea I can entertain on the subject is, that it was gold 
which had been washed from the ravines, carried by the 
river in its course, and deposited by it on the banks, 
although this theory very unsatisfactorily accounts for the 
great distance from the river's edge at which I found it. 
But if the latter theory be correct, what must be the rich- 
ness of the bed of that river into which, for ages past, the 
ravines that open upon it have been pouring their trea- 
sures. As yet, no attempts have been made to dive 
into its bed, — and I doubt not, w^hen capital and labour 
are combined for this purpose, immense profits will be 
realized. 

The banks of the creek, which should be called " We- 
ber's" instead of "Weaver's," are well lined with lofty, 
magnificent oak and pine trees, and the soil along the 
banks is capable of producing the common articles of agri- 
culture in great profusion. A town, with the name of 
" Weaverville," has now been formed upon the direct site 



96 OPENING OF THE SPRING. 

of the orio-inal settlement, — altliouo-h there are miles of 
extent on the banks of the creek which are probably 
rich in gold, and will one day prove as great a for- 
tune as already has the site of the present town of 
Weaverville. 

Among the peculiarities consequent upon the extraction 
of gold, may be mentioned the fact, that in Weaver's 
Creek, during the whole winter of 1848, the price paid in 
silver or gold coin for gold dust was from six to eight dol- 
lars per ounce. I, myself, bought some hundred ounces 
of a Mexican for six dollars and a half. The only object 
in selling gold for coin was to procure specie for gambling 
purposes, — and gambling was the life of two-thirds of the 
residents there at that period. At the same time, commu- 
nication with San Francisco and Sacramento City having 
been closed by the rains, provisions were enormously high. 
A few items will give an idea of gold-mine prices. Flour 
was selling at one dollar per pound, dried beef at two dol- 
lars, sugar at a dollar, coiFee seventy-five cents, molasses 
four dollars per gallon, pork two dollars per pound, mise- 
rable New England rum at fifty cents per glass or eight 
dollars per bottle, and tobacco at two dollars per pound. 
At these prices, the trader and transporter realized a 
greater profit from the miner's labour than the miner him- 
self; but provisions must be had, and no price, however 
great, could deter the labourer from purchasing the neces- 
saries of life. 

About the first of March, the long and severe winter 
broke up, and, tired of our winter quarters, our party made 
a division of the remaining provisions and cooking utensils, 
broke up housekeeping, and most of us started for the 
Middle Fork. Our travel was not diversified by anything 
new or strange, and, upon striking the river, we proceeded 
up it about eighteen miles above the '' Spanish Bar" to a 



ATTACK OF THE LAND SCURVY. 97 

bar opposite the "Big Bar," where we pitched our camp, 
constructed a machine, and commenced operations. 

The soil on this bar was exceedingly sandy, and the 
surface was covered with huge imbedded rocks, which 
required an immense amount of severe manual labour to 
remove. Below this was a red gravel, which was united 
with gold, the washing of which turned out about four 
ounces per day to each man. I was again dreaming of 
fortune and success, when my hopes were blasted by an 
attack of a terrible scourge that wrought destruction 
through the northern mines during the winter of 1848. I 
allude to the land scurvy. The exposed and unaccustomed 
life of two-thirds of the miners, and their entire subsis- 
tence upon salt meat, without any mixture of vegetable 
matter, had produced this disease, which was experienced 
more or less by at least one-half of the miners within my 
knowledge. Its symptoms and progress may not be 
uninteresting. It was first noticed in the " Dry Dig- 
gings," where, about the middle of February, many per- 
sons were rendered unable to walk by sweilings of the 
lower limbs, and severe pains in them. It was at first 
supposed to be rheumatism, and was treated as such. 
But it withstood the most powerful applications used in 
that complaint, and was finally decided to be scurvy. So 
long as the circumstances which caused it continued, the 
disease made rapid progress. Many, who could obtain no 
vegetables, or vegetable acids, lingered out a miserable 
existence and died, — while others, fortunate enough to 
reach the settlements where potatoes and acids could be 
procured, recovered. I noticed its first attack upon my- 
self by swelling and bleeding of the gums, which was 
followed by a swelling of both legs below the knee, which 
rendered me unable to walk; and for three weeks I was 
laid up in my tent, obliged to feed upon the very articles 



98 LUCKY DISCOVERY. 

that had caused the disease, and growing daily weaker, 
without any reasonable prospect of relief. There were, at 
that time, about eight hundred persons at work on the 
river, and hoping to get some medicine, I despatched one 
of my companions one morning, with instructions to pro- 
cure me, if possible, a dose of salts, and to pay for it any 
price that should be asked. He returned at night with the 
consoling news that he had failed, having found only two 
persons who had brought the article with them, and they 
refused to sell it at any price. 

I was almost in despair : with only a blanket between 
myself and the damp, cold earth, and a thin canvass to 
protect me from the burning sun by day, and the heavy 
dews by night, I lay day after day enduring the most in- 
tense suffering from pain in my limbs, which were now 
becoming more swollen, and were turning completely 
black. Above me rose those formidable hills which I must 
ascend ere I could obtain relief. I believe I should have 
died, had not accident discovered the best remedy that 
could have been produced. In the second week of my ill- 
ness, one of our party, in descending the hill on which he 
had been deer-hunting, found near its base, and strewn along 
the foot-track, a quantity of beans which sprouted from 
the ground, and were in leaf. Some one, in descending the 
hill with a bag of them on his back, had probably dropped 
them. My companion gathered a quantity and brought 
them into camp. I had them boiled, and lived entirely 
on them for several days, at the same time using a decoc- 
tion of the bark of the Spruce tree. These seemed to 
operate magically, and in a week after commencing the 
use of them, I found myself able to walk, — and as soon as 
my strength was partially restored, I ascended the hill, 
and with two companions walked into Culoma, and by 
living principally upon a vegetable diet, which I procured 



BROADWAY DANDIES. 99 

by paying three dollars per pound for potatoes, in a very 
short time I recovered. 

I found matters very much changed at Culoma ; the 
little settlement of three houses had grown into a large 
town. Buildings were being erected in all parts of it, and 
hundreds of tents whitened the plain. The steamer Ore- 
gon had just arrived at San Francisco on her first trip up- 
ward from Panama ; and the fleet of sailing vessels loaded 
with passengers, attracted by the report of the gold dis- 
covery in the United States, had begun to arrive. All 
sorts of people, from the polished Broadway dandy, who 
never handled an instrument heavier than a whalebone 
walking-stick, to the sturdy labourer who had spent his 
life in wielding the pickaxe and the shovel, had come to 
California, and all for one common object, — to dig gold ; 
and one class was as enthusiastic, and anticipated as good 
success, as the other. As there were no such accommoda- 
tions as hotels at Culoma, everybody was living in tents, 
cooking their own provisions, and getting ready to pack 
up and proceed to the Middle Fork. Some of them had 
commenced working on the banks of the South Fork in 
the immediate vicinity of the mill, and could be daily seen 
sweating (for the weather by this time had become ex- 
ceedingly warm) under a load of tools suflicient to dig a 
whole canal, on their way to, or coming from their places 
of labour. As I have before said, very little gold has 
been found in the vicinity of the mill, — and the gold-dig- 
gers there, at that time, were rewarded by not more than 
five dollars per day. 

Most of them had brought with them some one of the 
many newfangled machines that were manufactured in the 
United States, after the reports of the gold discovery 
reached there, like the razors of Pindar, "to sell." They 
were of all imaginable shapes and sizes, some of them ap- 



100 INDIAN OUTRAGES. 

pearing most admirably adapted to the churning of butter. 
These were tried and found to fail, and have so far been 
invariably abandoned for the common rocker, which is, as 
I have before said, the best machine to be used in con- 
nexion with mere manual labour. Many of the new-comers 
w^ere most wofully disappointed at the appearance of things, 
finding that gold, instead of lying scattered in " big lumps" 
over the earth's surface, was only to be obtained by the 
most severe toil. 

About this time, reports were daily arriving at the set- 
tlements of outrages committed by Indians upon whites 
in the vicinity of the North and Middle Forks. A report 
which afterwards proved to be strictly correct, came to 
the mill, that a party of Indians had descended to the 
camp of five w^hite men on the North Fork, while the latter 
were engaged in labour, had broken the locks of their 
rifles which were in their tents, and then fallen upon and 
cruelly beaten and murdered them. A large party, headed 
by John Greenwood, a son of the celebrated mountaineer, 
was immediately mustered at the mill, and started in pur- 
suit of the Indians, and tracked them to a large Indian 
rancheria on Weaver's Creek. This they attacked, and 
after killing about twenty of them, took thirty prisoners, 
and marched to the mill. Here they underwent a trial, 
and six of them, having been proved to have been con- 
nected with the party who killed the white men, were sen- 
tenced to be shot. They were taken out in the afternoon 
after their arrival, followed by a strong guard, and, as was 
anticipated, a little distance ahead being allowed them, 
they ran. They had no sooner started than the unerring 
aim of twenty mountaineers' rifles was upon them, and 
the next moment five of the six lay weltering in their 
blood. Soon after this, several expeditions were fitted out, 
who scoured the country in quest of Indians, until now a 



EETUKN TO SACRAMENTO CITY. 101 

redskin is scarcely ever seen in the inhabited portion of the 
northern mining region. Their raneherias are deserted, 
the graves of their ancestors are left to be desecrated bj the 
white man's foot-print, and they have gone, — some of them 
to seek a home beyond the rugged crest of the Sierra Ne- 
vada, while others have emigrated to the valley of the Tu- 
lares, and the whole race is fast becoming extinct. 

After having remained some time at the mill, I returned 
to my old residence at Weaver's Creek. I found it de- 
serted ; the opening of the warm spring weather had drawn 
away the entire population, both of our settlement and the 
^' Dry Diggings," to the richer placers of the golden rivers. 
I remained but a few days, when I proceeded to Sacra- 
mento City. 



9* 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Extent and Richness of the Gold Region of Upper California — Are the 
<* Gold-washings" inexhaustible? — A Home for the Starving Millions 
of Europe and the Labouring Men of America — Suicidal Policy of our 
Military Governors — Union of Capital, Labour, and Skill — A Word to 
Capitalists — Joint-stock Companies — The Gold-bearing Quartz of the 
Sierra — Experience of Hon. G. W. Wright — Extraordinary Results of 
pulverizing Quartz Rock — The Gold Mines of Georgia — Steam Engines 
and Stamping Machines — Growth of Sacramento and San Francisco. 

The gold region of Upper California is embraced in the 
country on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada, and 
extending over an already explored space of six hundred 
miles. Within the last six months, explorations have been 
made as far south as King's River, which flows into the 
Great Tulare Lake. Above this are the Stanislaus, Mo- 
kelunne, Tuolumne, and Mariposa, all tributaries of the 
San Joaquin, and upon all of which gold has been found, 
and. daily the southern portion of the gold region is be- 
coming more known. The two great streams, which with 
their tributaries, fence in the present gold region, are the 
Sacramento and San Joaquin. The most probable theory, 
however, in regard to the extent of the gold region, is, that 
it is in the whole range of mountains, extending from the 
Sierra Nevada, or rather the branches thereof, through 
Upper California, Mexico, Peru, and Chili, although it is 
positive that there are nowhere in the course of the range, 
such extensive and rich gold-washings as are found between 



104 ARE THE GOLD-WASHINGS INEXHAUSTIBLE ? 

the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers. Many years before 
the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill, a placer had been 
wrought at San Bernadino, about thirty miles southeast of 
the town of Santa Barbara. The gold was of the same 
character as that of the upper region, although found in 
much smaller quantities, and it is well known that for 
many years extensive gold placers have been wrought in 
the province of Sonora, one of the northern departments 
of Mexico. 

Throughout this whole region there is not a stream, 
valley, hill, or plain, in which gold does not exist. It 
seems to be the natural product of the soil, and is borne 
like the sand along the river courses. In travelling over 
some three hundred miles of this territory, I have never 
yet struck a pick or a knife into any spot where gold would 
be likely to be deposited, without finding it in greater or 
less quantities. Until lately, it was supposed that the gold 
existed only in the ranges of the Sierra Nevada, and that 
what is called the '^ Coast Range," bordering the whole 
coast of California, was destitute of it. But experience has 
already proved the incorrectness of this theory. A party 
headed by Major P. B. Beading, some time in the spring 
of 1849, struck into the Coast Range of mountains, about 
two hundred miles north of Sacramento City, and are still 
labouring there very successfully, having found gold not 
only in quantities, but in large pieces and of the finest 
quality ; and I doubt not that when the placers at the base 
of the Sierra Nevada shall have become partially exhausted, 
labour will be performed in various portions of the Coast 
Range with as good success as has already crowned the 
efibrts of the diggers in the present gold region. 

I do not believe, as was first supposed, that the gold- 
washings of northern California are "inexhaustible." Ex- 
perience has proved, in the workings of other placers, that 



CHANGES IN THE GOLD REGION. 105 

the rich deposits of pure gold found near the surface of the 
earth, have been speedily displaced, and that with an im- 
mense influx of labouring population, they have totally dis- 
appeared. Thus, in Sonora, where many years ago fifteen 
and twenty, and even fifty dollars per day, were the re- 
wards of labour, it is found difiicult at present with the 
common implements to dig and wash from the soil more 
than from fifty cents to two dollars per day to a man. 
So has it been partially in the richer and more exten- 
sive placers of California. When first discovered, ere the 
soil was molested by the pick and the shovel, every little 
rock crevice, and every river bank was blooming with 
golden fruits, and those who first struck them, without any 
severe labour, extracted the deposits. As the tide of 
emigration began to flow into the mining region, the lucky 
hits upon rich deposits, of course, began to grow scarcer, 
until, when an immense population was scattered through- 
out the whole golden country, the success of the mining 
operations began to depend more upon the amount of la- 
bour performed than upon the good fortune to strike into 
an unfurrowed soil, rich in gold. When I first saw the 
mines, only six months after they were worked, and when 
not more than three thousand people were scattered over the 
immense territory, many ravines extending for miles along 
the mountains were turned completely upside down, and 
portions of the river's banks resembled huge canals that 
had been excavated. And now, when two years have elapsed, 
and a population of one hundred thousand, daily increas- 
ing, have expended so great an amount of manual labour, 
the old ravines and river banks, which were abandoned 
when there were new and unwrought placers to go to, have 
been wrought and re-wrought, and some of them with good 
success. Two years have entirely changed the character 
of the whole mining region at present discovered. Over 



106 BAD POLICY OF MILITARY GOVERNORS. 

this immense territory, where the smiling earth covered 
and concealed her vast treasures, the pick and the shovel 
have created canals, gorges, and pits, that resemble the 
labours of giants. 

That the mere washings of pure gold will at some day 
become exhausted is not to be doubted, although for fifty 
years at least they will be wrought to a greater or less 
extent. In the ravines of dry diggings that have been, in 
mining parlance, entirely " dug out," any man, with a mere 
sheath-knife and crowbar, can extract five dollars a day. 
The earth here has been thrown up from the body of the 
ravines in reaching the rock, and in other places the ground 
has been merely skimmed over, and many parts of the 
ravine left untouched ; and upon the rivers banks the very 
earth that has been thrown aside as useless, and even that 
which has been once washed, will still, with careful wash- 
ing in a pan, turn out from three to ten dollars per day. 
It is therefore evident, that so long as even such wages as 
these can be made, men will be found to work the placers. 
The starving millions of Europe will find in the mountain 
gorges of California a home with profitable labour at their 
very door-sills, and the labouring-men of our own country 
will find it to their interest to settle among the auriferous 
hills. The miserably suicidal policy, which some of our 
military officers in California have attempted to introduce, 
has already proved not only its worthlessness, but the 
absolute impossibility of carrying it into efi"ect. Never in 
the world's history was there a better opportunity for a 
great, free, and republican nation like ours to ofier to the 
oppressed and down-trodden of the whole world an asylum, 
and a place where by honest industry, which will contribute 
as much to our wealth as their prosperity, they can build 
themselves happy homes and live like freemen. 

Long after the present localities, where the washing 



A WORD TO CAPITALISTS. 107 

of gold is prosecuted, are entirely abandoned, gold- 
washing will be continued by manual labour upon the 
plains and hills where the gold lies at a much greater depth 
beneath the soil than it does in the ravines and river banks, 
and where of course more severe labour is required. The 
era which follows the present successful gold-washing ope- 
rations will be one, when, by a union of capital, manual 
labour, and machinery, joint-stock companies will perform 
what individuals now do. While gold can be found lying 
within a few inches of the earth's surface, and the only 
capital required to extract it consists in the capability to 
purchase a pick and a shovel, there is no need of combina- 
tion ; but when the hills are to be torn to their very bases, the 
plains completely uprooted, and the streams, which flow 
down from the Sierra Nevada to be turned from their chan- 
nels, individuals must retire from the field, and make room 
for combined efforts. 

Never in the history of the world was there such a 
favourable opportunity as now presents itself in the gold 
region of California for a profitable investment of capital ; 
and the following are some of the modes in which it may 
be applied. I have before shown, and experience and ob- 
servation have demonstrated it to me, that the beds of the 
tributaries to the two great rivers that flow from the Sierra 
Nevada are richer in gold than their banks have yet proved 
to be. There are many points, at each one of which the 
river can easily be turned from its channel by a proper ap- 
plication of machinery. Dams are then to be erected and 
pumps employed in keeping the beds dry. Powerful steam 
machines are to be set in operation for the purpose of 
tearing up the rocks, and separating the gold from them. 
The hills and plains are also to be wrought. Shafts are 
to be sunk in the mountain sides, and huge excavators are 
to bring to the surface the golden earth, and immense 



108 THE GOLD-BEARING QUARTZ OF THE SIERRA. 

machines, worked by steam power, made to wash it. 
The earth, which had been j^reviously washed in the 
common rockers, is to be re-washed in a more scientifically 
constructed apparatus, and the minute particles of gold, 
which escape in the common mode of washing, and which 
are invisible to the naked eye, are to be separated by a 
chemical process. 

As yet no actual mining operations have been commenced 
in the gold region of California, for the two reasons, that 
they require a combination of labour and capital, and that 
the gold-washings have thus far proved so profitable as to 
make them the most desirable. But there is a greater 
field for actual mining operations in California than was 
ever presented in the richest districts of Peru or Mexico. 
The gold-washings, which have thus far enriched thousands, 
are but the scum that has been washed from the beds of 
the ore. I would not wish to say one word to increase the 
gold mania, which has gone out from California, and 
has attracted from the whole world thousands upon 
thousands of men who were not at all fitted to endure 
the hardships consequent upon a life in her mountainous 
regions, or the severe labour which was necessary to extract 
gold from the earth. It is to be hoped that this mania, 
however, has now given way to the "sober second thought," 
and that men have learned to listen to facts, and take the 
means to profit by them in the most proper manner. I should 
not consider myself as acting in accordance with duty, were 
I to assume the responsibility of publishing to the world an 
account of the gold mines of California, did I not, like the 
witness upon the stand, " tell the truth, the whole truth, 
and nothing but the truth." 

Throughout the range on the western slope of the 
Sierra Nevada, and in every little hill that branches from it, 
runs a formation of quartz rock, found sometimes at a few 



THE GOLD MINES OF GEORGIA. 109 

feet below the earth's surface, and sometimes rising above 
it in huge solid masses. This rock throughout the whole 
mining region has been proved by actual experiment to be 
richly impregnated with gold. Some of it exhibits the gold 
to the naked eye, while in other cases a powerful microscope 
is requisite to discern the minute particles that run in 
little veins through it. Experiments have been made in 
the working of this rock, which establish beyond a doubt 
its great richness. Hon. George W. Wright, one of the 
present representatives elected to Congress from California, 
has employed nearly the whole of the past summer in ex- 
ploring the gold region, with a view of ascertaining the 
richness and extent of the quartz rock, and his experiments 
have proved so wonderful, as almost to challenge credulity 
even among those who have seen the progress of the mining 
operations in California from their commencement to the 
present period. 

In pulverizing and extracting the gold from about one 
hundred pounds of this rock, Mr. Wright found, that the 
first four pounds yielded twelve dollars worth of gold, 
which was the largest yield made, while throughout the 
whole the smallest' yield was one dollar to the pound of 
rock, and this in many cases where not a particle of gold 
could be discerned with the naked eye. Mr. Wright has 
now in his possession a specimen of this quartz weighing 
twelve pounds, which contains six hundred dollars, or 
more than one quarter of its weight in pure gold ; and one 
dollar to the pound of rock is the lowest amount which he 
has ever extracted. 

In the gold mines of Georgia, where at present nearly 
all the profits result from the extraction of gold from the 
quartz rock, a fifteen horse power machine, working twelve 
'' stamps," will "stamp" or pulverize a thousand bushels 
of the rock per day. The pulverization is the most im- 

10 



110 GROWTH OF SACRAMENTO. 

portant item in the extraction of the gold, as after the 
rock is reduced to powder, the gold can be very easily 
secured either by washing or making an amalgam of quick- 
silver, or by a combination of both processes. Now, in 
Georgia, if each bushel of rock should produce twelve and 
a half cents, the profits would be good. If twenty-five 
cents, greater; and if fifty, enormous. A bushel of the 
quartz rock weighs about seventy-five pounds, and we thus 
find that instead of, as in Georgia, yielding from ten to 
twenty-five cents to the bushel, the gold rock of California 
at its lowest estimate will yield seventy-five dollars^ and in 
many cases much more. Let us pursue this subject a little 
farther. If a fifteen horse power engine will pulverize a 
thousand bushels, or seventy-five thousand pounds per day, 
at the estimate which has here been made, from seventy- 
five to one hundred thousand dollars would be the result 
of a day's labour, the whole performance of which with 
suitable machinery would not require one hundred men. 
Even lowering this estimate one-half, profits are exhibited 
that are indeed as startling as they are true. Here is an 
immense field for the investment of capital throughout the 
world, and for the employment of a large portion of its 
labouring population. 

The city of Sacramento had assumed a very difierent 
aspect at the time I reached it on my return from the 
northern mines, from that which it exhibited when I 
previously left it. Where the old store-ship used to be, 
on the banks of the Sacramento, tall-masted ships were 
moored, and the extensive plain on which I pitched my 
tent was dotted with houses. Around the fort itself, which 
is nearly two miles from the bank of the river, houses had 
begun to spring up. Building-lots which, four months 
previously, had sold at from fifty to two hundred dollars, 
were now held by their owners at from one to three thou- 



SAN FRANCISCO. Ill 

sand. I looked on with astonishment at the remarkable 
progress, and then little thought that the ensuing six 
months would develope a growth, both in size and prices, 
which would entirely outstrip what I then witnessed. 

Getting on board a launch, I spent a weary five days in 
sailing down the Sacramento, and arrived at San Francisco 
in the early part of May. What a change had occurred 
in six months ! San Francisco, when I saw it before, was 
almost entirely deserted, everybody having gone to the 
mines. Now it was being daily recruited by the arrival 
of travellers across the plains, by vessels around Cape 
Horn, by Sandwich Islanders, Chinese, French, English, 
and Mexicans. The age of speculation had commenced. 
The building-lots which, when I landed in San Francisco, 
were granted by the alcaldes for the sum of fifteen dollars, 
and in the autumn before were worth but five hundred, had 
now risen in value to from three to five thousand. Hun- 
dreds and thousands of men with capital were arriving, 
who readily seized upon the opportunities for speculating. 
Houses were going up on the vacant lots, and the town 
beginning to assume an air of business. Goods of all 
kinds had fallen in .price, owing to the arrival of fleets of 
loaded ships from all parts of the world, and in some cases^ 
from wilful neglect on the part of consignees. Large 
hotels had been erected, and life began to be rendered 
comfortable. Gambling in all its forms was carried on to 
an enormous extent, and money, as before, was almost as 
plentiful as the sea-sands. 



CHAPTER IX. 



The Mexican System of Government — Establishment of the Legislative 
Assembly of San Francisco — Seizure of the Town Records — Address 
of the Assembly recommending the Formation of a State Government 
— Interference of Brevet Brigadier-General Riley — Public Meeting — 
Organization of the State Convention — The Constitution — The Elec- 
tions. 



When I arrived in San Francisco, the causes had already 
been set in operation which have worked out for California 
a state government ; and though they sprang out of a local 
question, the result was a general one. The tracing of 
these causes may not be uninteresting to those who are 
looking upon California now as a full-grown state. 

As the town of. San Francisco began to fill up with 
American citizens, lovers of law and order, it was thought 
necessary that a better form of town government than 
then existed was requisite to secure the rights of person 
and property. Thus far the old Mexican system of 
alcaldes or chief-justices, and ayuntamientos or town 
councils, had been retained, and the people were living 
under a law which they did not understand ; a law subject 
to great abuses, in the hands of those who did not them- 
selves comprehend it ; and it was determined that the 
system should be changed, and one which was understood be 
substituted. In compliance with a call signed by a large 
number of respectable citizens of the town, a mass meeting 

10* 



114 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY. 

was held in Portsmouth Square on the afternoon of Feb- 
ruary 12th, 1849, when, after organizing in the usual 
form, and hearing the remarks made by several gentlemen, 
a series of resolutions were offered and unanimously carried, 
by which it was determined to form, for the government of 
the district of San Francisco, a legislative assembly, which 
should enact laws, and that three judges and other neces- 
sary officers should be elected to administer them. 

On the 21st day of February, an election was held, in 
compliance with the above resolutions, and a legislative 
assembly, consisting of fifteen members, three judges, a 
register, and sheriff, was elected. One of the first acts of 
the Legislative Assembly, which only claimed authority 
over the district of San Francisco, was to abolish the office 
of alcalde, considering it not only unnecessary, but incom- 
patible with American institutions ; and in compliance with 
the act of the Assembly, Myron Norton, Esq., chief-magis- 
trate, directed a note to T. M. Leavenworth, late alcalde, re- 
questing him to deliver to the new government the records 
of the town. To this note Mr. Leavenworth made no reply, 
and another one of the same tenor was sent by Mr. Norton. 
This received the same treatment as the first. Trouble 
appeared to be brewing, and, as is usual in such cases, 
many, who had been the first to propose and aid the new 
movement, were found at this time most wofully wanting. 
A code of laws had already been established by the Assem- 
bly, and the wheels of the new local government were ready 
to be put in operation, when it was found very difficult to 
procure a quorum for business at the meetings of the Legis- 
lative Assembly, and it was decided that additional mem- 
bers should be added thereto. On the 11th of May, 
another election was held, at which a large and respect- 
able vote was cast, and ten members of the Assembly 
were chosen — and, some informality having occurred at 



SEIZURE OF THE TOWN RECORDS. 115 

the previous election, a register, sheriff, and treasurer. 
Among the newly-elected members was Peter H. Burnett, 
now governor of the new state of California. Previous to 
this time, a letter had been addressed by a committee of 
the Assembly to General Persifer F. Smith, who was at 
the time principal military commander in California, to 
which was received a decidedly non-committal reply. But 
it was understood that Brevet Brigadier-General Riley, 
who had assumed the civil government of the territory, 
would support the old authorities, and, if possible, crush 
the Legislative Assembly. 

California, and San Francisco in particular, were in a 
curious political state of existence. From the time of the 
treaty of peace with Mexico until the arrival of Generals 
Smith and Biley, Colonel R. B. Mason, who had, during 
the war, been military commander and governor of Cali- 
fornia, had continued in the exercise of his authority, and 
the country had been ruled by the same laws and usages 
as during the war, when it was actually a territory belong- 
ing to Mexico. In express contradiction of at least the 
intention and understanding of the government at Wash- 
ington, Colonel Mason had appointed collectors, and col- 
lected revenue in the ports of California, and in all respects 
the military government had been continued; and now, 
when the people of San Francisco, in their sovereign 
capacity, had established a local government for their own 
protection, they found themselves interfered with by a 
military commander. 

The Legislative Assembly, however, went on, receiving, 
as it did, the support of the whole community. A court- 
house was established, and courts organized ; and Judge 
Norton finding that Mr. Leavenworth still made no reply 
to his note, after waiting a reasonable time, issued a writ 
of replevin, and gave it into the hands of the sheriff, who 



116 INTERFERENCE OF GENERAL RILEY. 

called upon Mr. Leavenworth at his office, presented it, 
and demanded the surrender of the town records. Mr. 
Leavenworth refused to deliver them, and the sheriff, call- 
ing to his assistance a number of the citizens, seized the 
records, and deposited them in the court-house. Mr. 
Leavenworth started for Monterey the same evening, to 
consult with General Riley upon future proceedings. In 
the mean time, the Legislative Assembly issued an address 
to the people of California, earnestly calling upon them to 
assemble in convention, and organize a provisional govern- 
ment for the territory, prior to an immediate application 
to Congress for admission as a state. 

This was in the early part of the month of June, and was 
the first concerted movement coming from any authorized 
body to recommend the formation of a state government 
for California. Mr. Leavenworth returned from Monterey, 
and, acting in the double capacity of a "returned officer" 
and a bearer of despatches, brought with him two procla- 
mations issued by Gen. Kiley, which were dated, one the 
3d, and the other the 4th of June, and were found posted 
up in several parts of the town the morning after Mr. Lea- 
venworth's arrival. The streets of San Francisco, on the 
morning of the 10th of June, presented a most exciting 
scene. Little knots were gathered around the streets 
engaged in loud discussion, and crowds were collected in 
the vicinity of the proclamations reading them. The first 
was a long one, and commenced by stating that as Con- 
gress had failed to extend a government over California, 
it became the duty of the people to organize one ; that he, 
(Gen. Riley) "in accordance with instructions from the 
Secretary of War,'' had assumed, for the present, the civil 
government of the territory, and that he conceived it his 
duty to organize the old Mexican system, and put it in 
active operation until such time as a constitution and laws 



INTERFERENCE OP GENERAL RILEY. 117 

should have been created. The document was one of the 
most inconsistent and contradictory nature, assuming, 
firstly, that the territory of California was, and must of 
necessity, as a conquered territory, continue to be under 
the laws and usages of Mexico, until Congress should extend 
over it those of the United States ; and at the same time 
calling upon the people to assemble and organize a govern- 
ment for themselves. The whole broad ground which had 
been taken by the Legislative Assembly of San Francisco, 
which was that, in the absence of a government extended 
over us by Congress, we had the inherent right to establish 
one for ourselves, although denied by Gen. Riley in the 
first part of his proclamation, was essentially admitted and 
urged in the latter portion. 

The second proclamation was addressed merely to the 
citizens of San Francisco, in relation to the seizure of the 
town records by order of Judge Norton, and called upon 
all good citizens to assist in restoring them to the " proper 
authorities." 

Various were the feelings excited, and as various the opi- 
nions expressed in regard to these proclamations, but a large 
majority of the people of San Francisco were fully decided 
in the idea that Gen. Riley had assumed an authority, 
which, even if it was " in accordance with the instructions 
of the Secretary of War," was one which he had no right 
to assume, and was in fact nothing more nor less than an 
unjust usurpation of poAver. 

Trouble was again anticipated, and it was understood 
that, backed by Gen. Riley's proclamation, the former 
alcalde, Mr. Leavenworth, would attempt the re-seizure of 
the town records. A few days after the publication of this 
document, a writ was served upon the town Register, calling 
for their delivery; he refused to give them up, and when 
an attempt was made to seize them, a force of about fifty 



118 PUBLIC MEETING. 

of the most respectable citizens, gathered at the court- 
house, determined, if necessary, to resist vi et armis. The 
alcalde s sheriff presented his writ, and was replied to by 
Wm. M. Stewart, presiding judge, that the records could 
not be removed, and seeing that a strong party was arrayed 
against him, he left without making any forcible attempt 
to take them. Gen. Riley refused to lend the alcalde the 
assistance of any military force, and matters were soon 
progressing again as before. 

On the 12th of June, a large meeting was held in Ports- 
mouth Square, for the purpose of taking steps towards the 
establishment of a state government for California. The 
call for this meeting had been signed by a large number 
of respectable citizens, and was issued before Gen. Riley's 
proclamations were published, and could therefore have no 
connexion with them. This meeting was addressed by 
Hon. T. Butler King, Hon. Wm. M. Gwin, William A. 
Buffum, Esq., and other speakers, all of whom urged the 
propriety of the immediate formation of a state govern- 
ment for California. 

In reply to the proclamations of Gen. Riley, an address 
was issued by the Legislative Assembly of San Francisco, 
written by Peter H. Burnett, the present governor of Cali- 
fornia, setting forth in a clear and succinct manner, the 
right of the people, in the absence of a territorial govern- 
ment established by Congress, to legislate for themselves, 
and justifying, in a masterly way, the course which had 
been pursued by the Legislative Assembly. 

In order to avoid all difficulty and confusion, and arrive, 
by the shortest and most practicable mode, at the " con- 
summation devoutly to be wished," the establishment of a 
state government for California, the Assembly and their 
supporters united cordially with the other citizens of Cali- 
fornia, and on the first day of August an election was held 



THE ELECTIONS. 119 

in accordance with the prochamation of Gen. Riley, at 
which were chosen the various local officers, and members 
of convention, to meet at Monterey, on the first of Septem- 
ber, for the purpose of forming a constitution. 

The convention met, and a more sensible and dignified 
body of men never assembled in any portion of the world. 
After six weeks' severe labour, a constitution was prepared 
and laid before the people of California for their ratification 
or rejection. It was a constitution of the most radically 
democratic character, and most admirably adapted to the 
wishes and wants of the people over whom it was to be 
extended. 

On the loth day of November an election was held, at 
which the state constitution received an almost unanimous 
ratification, and at the same time a governor, and the neces- 
sary state officers, members of the state legislature, and 
two members of Congress, were chosen. The choice for 
governor fell upon Peter H. Burnett, Esq., one of the early 
emigrants to Oregon, and who there received the appoint- 
ment as judge of the Supreme Court, an enterprising citi- 
zen of California, and one of the first to declare the rights 
of her people. Jo^hn M'Dougal, Esq., formerly of Ken- 
tucky, was elected lieutenant-governor, and George W. 
Wright, and Edward Gilbert, representatives to Congress. 
The first State Legislature met at the capital, the Pueblo 
de San Jose, on the 15th of December, and elected Hon. 
John C. Fremont, and Wm. M. Gwin, Senators to the 
Congress of the United States. The action of Congress 
is thus alone necessary to constitute California one of the 
sovereign states of the American Union, and it is earnestly 
to b« hoped that that august body will no longer trifle with 
the interests or the demands of so great and powerful a 
people. The struggles of California have been arduous, 
her trials severe ; she has been taxed for the support of the 



120 THE ELECTIONS. 

general government, while not even a shadow of protection 
has been extended over her ; and has been ruled bj a mili- 
tary power against her own wishes, till her people have 
risen in their might and demanded that they should have 
a voice and a representation in the councils of the nation. 
In tracing the causes which have created California a 
state, it will be seen that that little body of men, the 
Legislative Assembly of San Francisco, were the first to 
set the ball in motion, and I cannot refrain from giving 
them the credit which is their due. The proclamation of 
General Riley would probably not have been issued to this 
day, had not the body of which I have spoken taken the 
preliminary steps, and although General Riley deserves 
gratitude from the people for what he did, and as a man, 
is one of ''nature's noblemen," I shall ever look upon 
his assumption of power as Civil Governor of California as 
unwarranted and unjust. 



CHAPTER X. 

Growth of San Francisco — Number of Houses erected— Prices of Real 
Estate — Rents — Wages of Mechanics and Labourers — Gambling — 
Prices Current — Climate — Churches — Steamboats — Statistics of Ship- 
ping, &c., &c., &c. 

Within the past six months, the growth of San Fran- 
cisco has been enormous. During that time, at least a 
thousand houses have been erected, of all sizes and forms. 
The hills around the town are now covered with buildings, 
and every spot of ground near the centre is occupied. 
When it is taken into consideration, that lumber during 
this time has never been lower than two hundred and fifty, 
and often as high as four hundred dollars per thousand, 
and carpenters' wages have been at from twelve to twenty 
dollars a day, it must be conceded on all hands, that the 
Californians are at least an enterprising people. During 
this time the price of real estate has risen in proportion 
with the growth of the town, property being now fifty per 
cent, higher than it was six months since. A lot on Ports- 
mouth Square, which was purchased some three years ago 
for fifteen dollars, and sold last May for six thousand, was 
purchased a few days since for forty thousand dollars ! 
The mere ground-rent of a little piece of land of sufficient 
size to erect a house upon, in any of the public streets, 
varies from one hundred to five hundred dollars per month. 
Rents of houses are, of course, in proportion to the price of 

11 



122 WAGES OF MECHANICS AND LABOURERS. 

real estate. A common-sized lodging-room, anywhere near 
the centre of the town, rents for one hundred dollars per 
month ; an office on a lower floor, from two hundred to five 
hundred. The " Parker House," a hotel upon the Square, 
is leased for two hundred thousand dollars per annum, and 
under-leased in small portions, at a profit of fifty thousand 
more. In the "El Dorado," a large building next to the 
Parker House, a single room on the lower floor is rented for 
gambling purposes, for one hundred and eighty dollars a 
day, or five thousand four hundred dollars a month — nearly 
sixty-five thousand dollars per annum. Most of the large 
rooms in the hotels are rented to gamblers, each table 
where a game is played paying thirty dollars a day. A 
man who erects a house in San Francisco usually intends 
that the rent should cover all expenses of the building in 
three or four months, and in this he generally succeeds. 
Mechanics command enormous wages. Carpenters are 
now getting from twelve to twenty dollars a day, and tin- 
smiths, brick-layers, paper-hangers, and others employed 
in the construction of buildings, the same ; w^hile common 
day-labourers engaged in discharging vessels, digging cel- 
lars, &c., command eight dollars a day for their services. 
Board varies from sixteen to forty dollars per w^eek, and 
washing costs eight dollars per dozen. A bewildered 
stranger, in search of a night's lodging, may procure one 
by sleeping upon a narrow shelf called a "bunk," at the 
moderate charge of two dollars, and get his breakfast at 
an eating-house in the morning for a dollar and a half. 
Many of the common articles of trade, such as clothing, 
can be obtained here almost at New York prices. 

San Francisco possesses one of the most capacious and 
magnificent harbours in the world ; one in which the navies 
of all the maritime powers could ride at anchor in perfect 
safety. From its entrance to its head is a distance of 



CLIMATE— CHURCHES. 123 

about twenty miles, and branching from it are two other 
large bays — San Pablo, and Suisun. The entrance to the 
harbour is guarded by lofty hills, about five thousand feet 
apart, and could be protected with the greatest ease. But 
the town of San Francisco itself is not fitted by nature as 
a pleasant residence. During the spring, summer, and 
autumn, cold northwest winds are continually blowing, 
sometimes with such severity as to destroy buildings, and 
always filling the streets with a dense cloud of dust. From 
December to March, during the continuance of the rainy 
season, the streets, which have been filled with dust in the 
summer, become perfect pools of mud and mire, so that in 
some of them it is almost impossible to travel. The cli- 
mate is one of the most peculiar in the world. During the 
summer the weather is so cold that a fire is always needed, 
and the surrounding hills are dry and burned up ; while in 
the winter, in the intermissions between the rains, the 
weather is delightfully warm and May-like, and the hills 
become clothed with a lovely verdure. Among the im- 
provements in the town are several wharves, which have 
been completed within a short time past. The principal of 
these, the central ^harf, built by a joint-stock company, 
extends into the harbour a distance of two hundred and 
ninety-two feet, and will, when completed, be twenty-one 
hundred feet in length, enabling vessels to lie abreast, and 
discharge their cargoes directly upon it. Several churches 
have also been erected; and there are now in the town 
seven, of the following denominations, viz. : Catholic, 1 ; 
Episcopalian, 2 ; Baptist, 1 ; Presbyterian, 2 ; Methodist, 
1. There are also two public schools in operation. Some 
ten or twelve steamboats are plying on the Sacramento 
and San Joaquin rivers, and the bay of San Fran- 
cisco ; so that travelling has ceased to be so disagree- 
able as it was when I went up the Sacramento in a little 



124 



open boat. These steamboats run to Benicia, Sacramento 
City, Stockton, and San Jos^; ivliile several smaller 
ones ply up and down the Sacramento River, to and 
from the various little towns upon it. The passage from 
San Francisco to Sacramento City, a distance of one 
hundred and eighty miles, is performed in nine hours ; the 
price of passage being twenty-five dollars. 

The following table, kindly furnished me by the Col- 
lector of the port, exhibits the amount of tonnage in San 
Francisco on the 10th of November, 1849, together with 
the number and national character of the vessels in the 
harbour. ^ 



American tonnage, .... 


87,494 


Foreign do. . . • . 


32,823 


Total amount of tonnage, 


120,317 


No. of sMps in harbour, 


312 


No. of do. arrived from April 1st, to Novem- 




ber 10th, . . . . . 


697 


Of which there were, 




American, ... 


401 


Foreign, .... 


20f5 



CHAPTER XL 

Weber — Sullivan — Stockton — Hudson — Georgetown — Sam Riper — The 
Slate Range — The ^* Biggest Lump" yet found in California. 

That immense fortunes have been made in California 
is beyond a doubt ; many of them, assuredly, have been 
by gold-digging and trading, the latter occupation, in 
some cases, proving even more profitable than the former. 
The man who has been most fortunate in the mines is, 
probably, Charles M. Weber, a German, of whom I have 
previously spoken, who left his rancho on the first disco- 
very of gold, and collecting a large herd of Indians, 
placed them at work at various mining points, finding 
them in provisions,, and purchasing their gold from them 
with blankets at a hundred dollars apiece, and every other 
article of trade at correspondingly enormous prices. The 
untutored Indian, who had spent all his life in roaming 
over his native hills, subsisting upon acorns and wild 
game, and clothed in the skins of the deer and the wolf, 
the moment he found himself able to live sumptuously 
upon flour, and some of the little luxuries of life, and 
clothe his swarthy limbs in an elegant Mexican serape or 
Yankee blanket, was ready to part with his gold, of the 
value of which he had no idea, on the most accommo- 
dating terms. I have seen Indians at Culoma, who, till 

within the previous three months, had been nude as new- 

11* 



126 WEBER — SULLIVAN — STOCKTON. 

born babes, and had lived on roots and acorns, clothed in 
the most gaudy dresses, and purchasing raisins and 
almonds at sixteen dollars a pound. 

It is said that Weber, before he gave up the digging of 
gold, had, by the labour and trade of the Indians, made be- 
tween four and five hundred thousand dollars. He then 
purchased the ground on which the flourishing town of 
Stockton now stands, laid it out in building lots, and is 
now probably worth over half a million of dollars, and his 
present trade and sale of lots will, without doubt, double 
this amount in one year. 

John Sullivan, an Irishman, w^ho, when I first arrived 
at San Francisco, was driving an ox-team, some time in the 
summer of 1848, discovered a canon near the Stanislaus 
River, which proved so rich that ere the winter was over 
he had taken from it twenty-six thousand dollars worth of 
gold dust. With this he established a trading post, pur- 
chased property in San Francisco, and is now on the high- 
road to a large fortune. The canon he discovered has 
ever since been called Sullivan's Diggings, and has been 
celebrated for the "big lumps" which have been taken 
from it. 

A man named Stockton, who came to California in the 
same ship with me, and who was a private in our regiment, 
settled upon the Stanislaus River, in the early part of 
September, 1848. He was a keen, trading genius, and, 
striking out of the beaten track, bought a mule, and 
started, with a small lot of trinkets and little articles of 
luxury, into the mountain Indian region. Here his facul- 
ties " for driving bargains" were brought into full play, 
and it is said to be a fact, that he has sold several boxes of 
raisins to the Indians at their weight in gold ! Stockton 
made a great deal of money; but lately, through some 



HUDSON — GEORGETOWN — SAMUEL RIPER. 127 

mismanagement in his business, has, I believe, failed, and 
commenced the world over again. 

A young man named Hudson, from New York, I think, 
discovered a deep canon between the town of Culoma and 
the Middle Fork, about eleven miles distant from the 
former place, and six from the latter. This is a place 
which, in my travel to the Middle Fork and back, I have 
crossed four times without ever thinking of disturbing it. 
But in the summer of 1849, Hudson struck into it, and by 
digging some four feet reached the granite bed of the 
eano7i, on which lay immense masses of gold. In the 
course of six weeks he had dug some twenty thousand 
dollars. The gold in this canon is all large and of the 
purest quality, being generally entirely exempt from the 
admixture of quartz, which is usually found in large pieces. 
The largest piece found here, and which I had the plea- 
sure of seeing, weighed a little over fourteen pounds clear 
gold, and was worth nearly two thousand eight hundred 
dollars. The success of every one who has worked in this 
canon^ has probably been more uniform than in any other 
place in the whole mining region. 

A boy, nineteen years of age, named John C. Daven- 
port, from New Bedford, took out here, one day last fall, 
seventy-seven ounces, and the next day nearly ninety 
ounces of pure gold. The canon I have above referred 
to is now called Georgetown, and has become a thriving 
little community, there being, at present, about two thou- 
sand people digging there, who have built themselves com- 
fortable log houses, and have settled down quietly to labour 
and enjoy the fruits of their toil. 

A young man, named Samuel Biper, from Waterloo, 
New York, who, with three companions, went on to the 
Yuba Biver in June, 1849, in company with Dr. Bullard, 



128 THE SLATE RANGE. 

dammed off a place about fifty miles above the river's mouth, 
seventy feet long by twenty-five feet wide. By severe 
labour, occupying the party of four nearly a fortnight, 
they succeeded in perfectly drying this part of the river's 
bed, and commenced washing the earth they found in it, 
consisting of a red gravel, solidly packed into the crevices 
of the rock. The earth turned out about three hundred 
dollars per day, and in less than two months the party of 
four divided among themselves the sum of fifteen thousand 
dollars ! Immediately above this, two of the same party 
dammed a much smaller place, and in two weeks took out 
three thousand dollars worth of gold. 

About seventy miles from the mouth of the Yuba River 
is a curious formation of rock called " The Slate Range;" 
it is upon the bank of the river, and extends along it. 
Above it are lofty and precipitous hills, exceedingly diffi- 
cult and dangerous of descent, — but the richness of the 
slate rock beneath has well compensated all who have 
endured the toil of descending. The slate lies about four 
feet below the earth's surface, and between the thin strata 
the gold is found adhering to the rock. Over sixty thou- 
sand dollars worth of gold has been taken from this range 
during the past summer. 

But one of the most curious circumstances in connexion 
with the gold mines occurred at the old " Dry Diggings," 
of which I have previously spoken. These were entirely 
deserted last spring, having been used as a mere wintering 
place, and abandoned when the weather admitted of tra- 
velling. As emigration rushed in, however, people again 
began to settle at the old working-places, and the " Dry 
Diggings" were soon again filled up. The houses were 
placed in a long valley, through which a stream ran, and 
as the diggings thus far had all been found in the ravines 



THE " BIGGEST LUMP" YET FOUND. 129 

whicli run up into the hills, — no one ever thought of trying 
the valley itself, which was in fact nothing more than a ravine 
of a larger kind. But within the past summer this whole 
valley has been completely dug up, and immense quan- 
tities of gold have been taken from it. Even the ground 
on which the houses stood has been uprooted, and one man 
named Wilson took from under his own doorstep about two 
thousand dollars Avorth of gold. In another case, three 
Frenchmen removed the stump of an old tree which lay 
across the pathway on the road from the dry diggings to 
Culoma, commenced operations, and in one week dug 
nearly five thousand dollars. I might go on multiplying 
instances of extraordinary success in gold-digging. But 
so many stories of this nature are already in circulation, 
that I will merely add one more. 

Dr. H. Van Dyke, with a company of about thirty 
men, went on to the North Fork in August last, and con- 
structed a dam on that river just above its junction with 
the American Fork. Within the first three days after 
the drainage was completed, the company had taken out 
fifteen thousand dollars; and afterwards, for nearly a 
month, made froip five to twelve ounces a day per 
man. 

The largest piece of gold which has yet been found was 
picked up in a dry ravine near the Stanislaus River, in 
September, 1848. It contained a large admixture of 
quartz, and weighed a little over twenty-five pounds, being 
worth five thousand dollars. A piece weighing twenty- 
seven ounces and a half was found by a young man named 
Taylor at "Kelsey's Dry Diggings," on the South Fork, 
about eight miles from Culoma. I saw this piece at the 
Mill last spring, and it is now in the possession of Hon. 
Edward Gilbert, one of our representatives in Congress 



130 THE "biggest lump" YET FOUND. 

from California. It is a beautiful specimen, about six 
inches in length, the gold being inlaid in a reddish stone. 
This piece was found by pure good luck, having been 
probably thrown up from the ravine in some loose dirt, 
where it was picked up by Taylor, lying directly on the 
surface. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Recapitulation — Population of the Mining Region — Average Amount of 
Gold Dug — Requirements of a Gold-Digger — The Best Season — In 
what kind of Soil is Gold Found? — Washing Machines — California 
a Habitable Country — The Learned Professions. 

It is proper, before closing this work, and it will proba- 
bly be expected, that I should make a sort of recapitula- 
tion, and give some advice in regard to prospects and plans 
of proceeding in the gold mines of California. To advise 
is always a difficult task, and in this instance it is pecu- 
liarly so ; but I will endeavour to give a fair statement of 
facts, and the best advice I can. The number of persons 
at present labouring in the various portions of the mining 
region is about one. hundred thousand. Of these, at least 
one-third are Mexicans, Chilenos, Pacific Islanders, and 
Chinese, and the remainder Americans, English, French, 
and Germans; and I should di^de their locations as fol- 
lows : on the North, Middle, and South Forks, say twenty 
thousand; on the Stanislaus, Mokelumne, Tuolumne, Mer- 
ced, Mariposa, and other tributaries of the San Joaquin, 
forty thousand ; on Yuba and Feather Rivers, twenty 
thousand ; and, scattered over the various dry diggings, 
twenty thousand more. During the past summer and 
autumn, I should estimate the average quantity of gold dug 
daily at eight dollars to a man ; for although it is by no 
means uncommon for an individual to "strike a lucky 



132 REQUIREMENTS OF A GOLD-DIGGER. 

place," and some days take out from a hundred to a thou- 
sand dollars, others spend whole days in search and labour, 
without finding more than two or three dollars a day. 
From my own experience in the mines I am, however, 
satisfied, that, during six months in the year, a stout man, 
with health, energy, and perseverance, can average sixteen 
dollars a day in almost any portion of the placers ; and 
that, for twenty years, from three to ten dollars a day can 
be made by individual labour. Still, I would advise all 
who are in good positions at home to remain there. The 
labour and hardships consequent upon the life of a gold- 
digger are of the most severe and arduous nature. Prying 
and breaking up huge rocks, shovelling dirt, washing it 
with wet feet all day, and sleeping on the damp ground at 
night, with nothing above but a thin covering of canvass, 
or a leaky log roof, are not by any means agreeable to one 
who has been accustomed to the civilized life of cities. 
Richelieu says, that "the pen is mightier than the sword." 
Many a fine, spruce young clerk coming to California with 
golden dreams of wealth before him has proved, to his 
sorrow, that the crowbar is heavier than the pen. I hesi- 
tate not to say, that the labour of gold-digging is un- 
equalled by any other in the world in severity. It com- 
bines within itself the various arts of canal-digging, ditch- 
ing, laying stone walls, ploughing, and hoeing potatoes, — 
and adding to this a life in the wilds of the mountains, 
living upon poor provisions, continually exposed either to 
the burning rays of the sun, or the heavy dews of night, 
and the occupation becomes anything but a pleasant one. 
But to a man endowed with a constitution to endure hard- 
ship, with hands that have been accustomed to labour, and 
with a heart which suffers not itself to be sorrowed witU dis- 
appointment, there was never a better opportunity in the 
world to make a fortune, than there is at present in Cali- 



REQUIREMENTS OP A GOLD-DIGGER. 133 

fornia. To mechanics, especially, there are great induce- 
ments ; for if they do not choose to labour in the mines, 
with the wages which I have previously stated as being 
paid to them in San Francisco and the other towns of 
Northern California, they may, in one year, save more 
money than in five in any other portion of the United 
States. 

To those who do come, I would give a few words of ad- 
vice, which may be of service. Bring with you very little 
clothing and provisions, as they will only prove a burden. 
These can be purchased in San Francisco almost at New 
York prices. Never come without money, as gold is not 
to be found in the streets of San Francisco. You may be 
delayed several days before going to the mines, and board 
at from sixteen to fifty dollars a week will soon make a 
large hole in a small sum of money. Arrived at San 
Francisco, beware of the vices prevalent there. Drinking 
and gaming are the principal, and in fact the only amuse- 
ments of the town, and many a poor fellow, landing there 
with high hopes, has been fleeced and turned adrift upon 
society with a broken heart. Purchase no provisions in San 
Francisco. The expenses of transportation are so great, 
(freight up the river being from two to four cents per 
pound, and by teams to the various mining points from 
fifteen to fifty,) that your provisions will cost more in 
money and time than they would if purchased in the mines. 
Flour is now selling in the gold regions at about fifty cents 
per pound ; this seems like a great price, but you will find 
it cheaper than to carry it with you, and will soon find 
that it is much easier to pay fifty cents for a pound of flour 
when you are making sixteen dollars a day, than it is to 
pay. three cents when you are making but one. For the 
same reason that you should carry no provisions, carry but 
little clothing. A mere change is sufiicient, and clothes 

12 



134 THE BEST SEASON. 

can always be purchased at reasonable rates in all parts of 
the mines. 

The best season for proceeding to the mines is about 
the end of the month of August. The waters which have 
been swollen by the melting of the snows in the summer, 
have then subsided, and the heat of the summer months 
has then given way to the cooling breezes of autumn. 
From that time till the middle of December, the weather 
is most delightful, and the opportunities for profitable 
labour are far better than at any other time. About the 
middle of December, the rainy season commences ; the 
rivers immediately commence rising, and labour is pre- 
vented both by this and the inclemency of the weather. 
The life of the miner during the winter months is exceed- 
ingly unpleasant, and I would advise no one to proceed to 
the gold region after the month of November. The rainy 
season usually closes about the middle of February, but 
the roads are exceedingly muddy until the first of March, 
and from that time till July, labour can be performed to 
advantage in the various dry-diggings, and upon some of 
the rivers. By this time the hot and sickly season com- 
mences, and the waters upon the rivers are at their greatest 
height. The thermometer ranges from 90° to 120° in the 
shade at noonday, and the heavy dews of night fall upon 
the labourer, who has been all day at work beneath a 
broiling sun. This of course produces disease, and in that 
wild region, where the comforts and attendance that should 
ever surround a sick man's bed, are unknown, disease is 
usually followed by death. The most prevalent diseases 
during this time are fever and ague, and bilious fevers of 
the most virulent nature. But I am satisfied that, setting 
aside the prevalence of diseases common to all new countries, 
a large portion of the sickness of the summer months is 
caused by the exposure consequent upon the present mode of 



WASHING MACHINES. 135 

life of the miner. When the same comforts are introduced. 



when good houses are built, and wholesome provisions can 
be procured, the mining regions of California will compare 
favourably with Illinois, Indiana, or any of the new states 
in point of healthiness. 

It has been a frequent inquiry in the United States, 
"In what kind of soil is gold found?" The answer is, 
that it is found in no one particular kind of soil, but in 
every variety from the common loose black earth to the 
hardest clay. I have found, in the dry diggings of Wea- 
ver's Creek, pieces of gold, some of them weighing nearly 
a quarter of an ounce, lying in the upper black soil within 
two inches of the surface. It is sometimes found embedded 
in a hard white clay, at other times in a red, and at 
others in a blue clay. As a general thing, I have found 
that where the gold is coarse, it usually descends until 
it reaches one of the above-mentioned clays, while the 
finer particles rest upon the gravelly stratum nearer the 
surface, and thus fine gold is most frequently found 
mingled with red gravel. 

In regard to bringing machines to California for the 
purpose of washing gold, I must caution the miner to be 
careful and judicious in their selection. Some of the more 
recent inventions are valuable, especially the " Quicksilver 
Gold Separator," which is constructed to operate with 
quicksilver in such manner as to save the fine particles of 
gold which in the ordinary cradles or rockers are lost. 
The only object of a machine of any kind is to break up 
and keep in motion a larger quantity of earth than a pan 
would hold, and at the same time prevent the gold from 
being lost. I saw, last spring, hundreds of huge, bulky 
machines, which had been brought round Cape Horn, and 
which would require, each one of them, a large ox-team to 
convey them to the mining region, lying piled upon the 



136 CALIFORNIA A HABITABLE COUNTRY. 

beach of San Francisco, destined never to fulfil the object 
for which they were intended, and ere this probably used 
for firewood, or in constructing habitations for their owners 
to dwell in. There are, however, some small hand machines 
manufactured in New York, which are really of great use 
to the gold-digger. 

A great mistake has been made by people who have 
emigrated to California, or who have desired to emigrate, 
in considering it merely as a temporary home, a sort of 
huge goose, out of which a few feathers were to be plucked, 
and then forsaken. It is for this reason that the life of 
the miner is at present tenfold more arduous than it other- 
wise would be, and never was there a more egregious error 
in regard to the character of the country. Gold is not the 
only product of the soil in California. Her fertile valleys 
and rich prairies are capable, when cultivated, of producing 
an untold store of agricultural wealth. Her lofty pines 
and spreading oak trees afi'ord an abundant supply of 
material for the erection of comfortable dwellings. Her 
thousand streams, pouring down every hillside and wind- 
ing through her plains, furnish an inexhaustible supply of 
water-power, and her forests, mountains, and lakes abound 
with game of every description. In the immense valleys 
of the Sacramento and San Joaquin, are millions of acres 
of land entirely unreclaimed, upon which any man may 
settle and make a fortune in a few years by the cultivation 
of the soil. Some hundred and fifty miles above Sacra- 
mento City, on the Sacramento River, are large tracts of 
valuable, well-watered land, much of which is unreclaimed, 
other portions being for sale at mere nominal prices. On 
one of these tracts, at "Lawson's Rancho," wheat was last 
year raised at an average of forty-five bushels to the acre, 
and is now selling delivered on the rancho at six dollars a 
bushel ! Cattle bring from forty to a hundred dollars a 



THE LEARNED PROFESSIONS. 137 

head, potatoes twentj-five cents per pound, milk two dollars 
per gallon, butter from one to two dollars per pound, and 
every product of a farm is at corresponding prices. With 
the continued growth of California, the demand for all these 
articles, most of which are now brought from the Sandwich 
Islands, Chili, and Oregon, must necessarily increase, and 
I am satisfied that the cultivation of the soil will yet be a 
more profitable labour than extracting the gold from it. 

California is a habitable country, and should be looked 
upon no longer as a mere temporary residence. A state 
government has been organized, the sheltering hand of law 
stretched over its borders, and life there can be made as 
comfortable as life in any other portion of the world. Let 
then the gold-digger come, and from the never-failing hills 
gather a rich supply of treasure. Let the farmer come, 
and from the abundant soil produce the necessaries of life, 
and enrich himself from them. Let the mechanic and 
labourer come, and build up the towns of this new country, 
and let the ladies of our land come, and with their smiles 
bring peace and happiness into the wilderness. 

" The world was sad !— the garden was a wild ! — 
And man, ihe hermit sighed, till woman smiled!" 

In this connexion, it may be well to state, that although 
California presents one of the finest fields jn the world for 
mechanical and industrial pursuits, it is as yet an unpro- 
mising region for what are called "the learned profes- 
sions ;" and I would advise no more " of that ilk" to wend 
this way. The country is already overrun with young 
lawyers and doctors, who are too feeble physically to suc- 
ceed as gold-diggers, and seek in vain for fees. Nearly 
all the law business done here is in the hands of a few pro- 
minent individuals, who are handsomely paid for what they 
do, but could readily transact ten times the amount of busi- 

12* 



138 THE LEARNED PROFESSIONS. 

ness that is ever placed in their hands. Public opinion is 
more stringent here than in the older states, and contracts 
are faithfully fulfilled, whether written or verbal, without 
evasion, under the technicalities or subtilties of the law. 
The medical profession is somewhat more in demand, but 
it is so crowded that few succeed, and most persons who 
come here to practise medicine, are compelled to resort to 
some other means of obtaining a livelihood. Hydropathy 
is the popular treatment, and a good bath is thought to be 
far more conducive to health than bleeding or calomel. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE OLD TOWNS OF CALIFORNIA. 
MONTEREY. 

The town of Monterey is situated upon the large bay of 
that name, formed by the curve of land between Point Aiio 
Nuevo on the north, and Point Pinos on the south. Until 
the adoption of the present constitution for California, 
Monterey was always the seat of government of the 
territory, and the residence of her military governors and 
other officers. The town presents a very neat and pretty 
appearance, with its houses of white-plastered adobes and 
its surrounding hills covered with lofty pine trees. It 
retains its old Spanish peculiarities, and Yankee innovations 
have as yet made but little progress there. The Spanish 
don^ clothed in his serape and calcineros, still walks through 
the streets with his lordly air, and the pretty senorita^ her 
dark eyes peering through the folds of her reboso, skips 
lightly along the footpath. The ancient customs are still 
continued here, and the sound of the guitar and the light 
shuffling of pretty feet are heard nightly in the casas. I 
saw here a few weeks since a funeral celebrated in the old 
style, which, although by no means new to me, exceedingly 
astonished some Yankee friends who had but just arrived. 
A procession of some hundred people, men, women, and 



140 MONTEREY. 

children, were straggling along the street, preceded by 
six little girls, dressed in white, bearing upon their shoul- 
ders the coffin of an infant. Upon one side of this were 
two musicians, with a guitar and violin, playing such tunes 
as are heard at the country dances in the United States, 
while upon the other were two tall fellows with muskets, 
which they were continually loading and firing. By the 
sides of the procession was a troop of boys, all armed with 
Chinese fire-crackers, which they exploded by the pack, 
keeping up a most infernal racket. In this manner the 
procession marched to the church, where the coffin was 
opened, and the little body strewn with wild flowers. 
After some Catholic ceremony the body was committed to 
the grave, when the whole posse adjourned to the residence 
of the parents, where a grand fandango and feast were 
given, which lasted throughout the whole night. 

About six miles from Monterey lie the mission and val- 
ley of Carmel, one of the prettiest spots in all Upper Cali- 
fornia, and one of the most favourable for agricultural 
pursuits ; and twenty-five miles distant is the great valley 
of San Juan, ten miles in width, and thirty miles in length. 
This valley possesses a climate peculiar to itself, and a soil 
of exceeding richness. The winds from the ocean are mel- 
lowed before they reach here, and fall with a delicious 
coolness upon this beautiful vale. The agricultural pro- 
ducts are principally corn, wheat, and potatoes, which are 
taken to Monterey and sold at good prices. 

The bay of Monterey abounds in fish of every variety, 
but particularly mackerel, which can be caught in great 
quantities with a hook and line directly in the harbour. 
The town contains about one thousand inhabitants, and its 
climate is superior to that of any other locality on the 
coast, although during the summer a dense fog usually 
rises for a few hours in the morning. A fort has been 



SANTA BARBARA. 141 

built upon a hill overlooking the town and harbour, and 
a military force is stationed there. There are several 
American residents in Monterey at the present time, en- 
gaged in mercantile pursuits ; but very little building is 
in progress, and the town bids fair to remain for a long 
time a representative of California as she was before the 
indomitable Yankee introduced his "notions" into her ter- 
ritory. 

SANTA BARBARA. 

South of Monterey is the town of Santa Barbara, a place 
celebrated for its being the residence of the aristocracy of 
California, as well as for its beautiful women. There is no 
harbour to the town, and vessels are obliged to lie at an- 
chor in an open roadstead, often at many miles distant 
from the shore ; and during the spring and fall, when the 
southeast winds prevail, they are scarcely safe lying 
here; a high surf is constantly running on the beach, 
and it is only by the greatest skill in "beaching" a boat 
that one can escape a severe ducking. The position of 
the town of Santa Barbara is one of the most beautiful 
in California. On 'the right, toward the water, is a lofty 
hill, rising nearly a thousand feet, from the summit of 
which the little town resembles one of those mud villages, 
which school-boys mould in clam-shells. Directly back of 
the town is a range of almost impassable hills, which run 
in a diagonal direction, and join the Coast Range at San 
Luis Obispo. In front is the broad bay, embraced between 
two points, and having a smooth beach of nearly thirty 
miles in extent. A mile back from the town, at the head 
of a gentle slope, is the mission of Santa Barbara, with its 
venerable white walls and cross-mounted spires. 

The town itself is situated upon a plain of some ten 
miles in extent, and contains about one hundred and fifty 






142 SANTA BARBARA. 

houses, built of adobes, all one story in height. Most of 
these houses contain but two rooms, a large one called the 
sala, and a small chamber. These houses contain no stoves 
or fire-places, all the cooking operations of a family being 
performed in the cocina, which is a building separate from 
the main dwelling. 

The peoi^le of Santa Barbara are kind and hospitable. I 
was stationed there three months, and scarcely a day elapsed 
that our mess-table did not exhibit some choice specimen 
of California cookery, made up by the hands of some fair 
senorita, as a present to ^'los offioiales Ainericanos.'' But 
here, as all over California, among the native population, 
laziness is the great characteristic of the people. A fine 
horse to ride, plenty of beef and frijoles to eat, and ciga- 
ros to smoke, and they are satisfied. The whole day with 
them is spent on horseback, in lazily riding from one tavern 
to another, or galloping furiously, at the risk of their necks, 
along the streets. The residents of Santa Barbara are 
principally rancheros, who visit their ranchos once or twice 
a year, to attend to the marking and killing of their cattle, 
and spend the remainder of the year in their town resi- 
dence, enjoying life to their utmost capacity. Each ran- 
chero usually keeps around the town a sufficient number of 
cattle for food, and whenever any beef is wanted, a bullock 
is slaughtered in a manner that would cause the eyes of 
the English societies for the suppression of cruelties to 
animals to stare aghast. The animal is first to be caught, 
which is effected in this manner. A vaquei^o or herdsman, 
mounted upon a fleet horse, and provided with a strong 
rope, with a noose at one end, and called a lasso, rides fu- 
riously into the herd of cattle, and selecting the one he 
wishes swings his lasso around his head, gives a loud yell, 
at the same time throwing the lasso and planting it over 
the horns and head of the vanquished bullock. So expert 



SANTA BARBARA. 143 

are they in the use of the lasso that they seldom fail at the 
first trial in catching an animal running at the distance of 
thirty or forty feet. The animal being captured, he is 
dragged into town, and being conducted within a corral, 
another lasso is thrown around his legs, which are thus trip- 
ped from under him, when a sharp knife is plunged into 
his throat. 

The favourite amusement of the Californians is dancing, 
and Santa Barbara is more celebrated for its fandangos than 
any other town on the coast. These occur nearly every eve- 
ning in the week, it being always easy to get up an impromp- 
tu ball in five minutes,by calling in a guitar or harp player. 
At these balls there is no exclusiveness, the high and low, 
rich and poor, all meet on perfect equality, and dance away 
their sorrows, if they have any, upon the same mud floor. 
No scented cards of invitation are sent to the favoured 
few, but all who choose enter and participate freely. At 
church and at fandangos Californians all find a level. It 
appears as natural for Californians to dance as to breathe 
or eat. Often have I seen little girls, scarce six years of 
age, flying through a cotilloii, or circling in the giddy waltz, 
or dancing with gredt skill their favourite jotah or jarahe. 
The girls are all elegant waltzers, and will exhaust the 
strength of an ordinary American gentleman, who is con- 
tent with a few turns round the ball-room and then a long 
promenade. 

The town of Santa Barbara contains about five hundred 
inhabitants, among whom are the Norrigas and Carillos, 
the two great families of California. It is a beautiful place 
of residence, with a mild, springlike climate, and around it 
are some of the pleasantest rides in all California. About 
four miles distant is the little town of Montecito (little 
mountain), a collection of farm-houses, where large quan- 
tities of vegetables are grown. Three miles beyond this, 



144 PUEBLO DE LOS ANGELOS. 

in the heart of the mountains, is a remarkable hot sulphur 
spring, to which invalids resort for the purpose of bathing, 
and six miles in the opposite direction is an Indian village, 
containing some forty or fifty wigwams, whose tenants are 
an industrious agricultural people, who raise corn, wheat, 
and potatoes, and bring them into Santa Barbara for sale. 
The mission of Santa Barbara is, at the present time, 
in a better condition than any other mission in the country. 
About fifty of the converted Indians still remain here and 
cultivate the soil. Around the old mission building are 
several extensive orchards, in which figs, apples, pears, and 
peaches are grown, and two or three vineyards, producing 
a grape from which excellent wine is made. The Padre 
Presidente^ the presiding priest of California, resides here, 
the office at present devolving upon Padre Jesus Maria 
Gonzales, one of the kindest and most gentlemanly men I 
ever met with. 

PUEBLO DE LOS ANGELOS. 

One hundred and ten miles south of Santa Barbara is 
the Pueblo de los Angelos (City of the Angels), the garden 
spot of California. It is situated at the end of an im- 
mense plain, which extends from San Pedro, the port of 
the Pueblo, twenty-five miles distant, to this point. As in 
all California towns, the houses are built of adobe and are 
covered with an asphaltum, which is found in great quanti- 
ties, issuing from the ground near the town. The northern 
portion of the town is laid out in streets, and appropriated 
as the residence of the trading citizens, while the southern 
part is made up of gardens, vineyards, and orchards. 
Through all these a large stream runs, which is used to 
irrigate the soil. The vineyards are lovely spots ; acres 
upon acres of ground are covered with vines, which are 



PUEBLO DE LOS ANGELOS. 145 

trimmed every year, and thus kept about six feet in height, 
and in the fall of the year are hanging thick with clusters 
of grapes. In addition to these, apples, pears, peaches, 
plums, and figs are raised in great abundance. An Ame- 
rican, named Wolfskill, has here a vineyard containing 
thirty thousand bearing grape-vines, from which he makes 
annually a thousand barrels of wine, and two or three hun- 
dred of aguardiente^ the brandy of the country. Some of 
this wine is a very superior article, resembling in its flavour 
the best Madeira, while another kind, the vino tinto, is 
execrable stuff. With proper care and apparatus, however, 
the grape of the Puehlo could be made to yield as good 
wine as any in the world ; and the whole plain, twenty-five 
miles in extent, reaching to the beach at San Pedro, is 
susceptible of the cultivation of the vine. 

Until the late astonishing growth of San Francisco, the 
Pueblo was the largest town in California, containing about 
two thousand inhabitants, who are principally wealthy ran- 
cheros, and those who reside there to cultivate the grape. 
Game of many kinds abounds in the vicinity of the Pueblo. 
During the rainy season, the plains in the direction of San 
Pedro are covered with millions of geese and ducks, which 
are shot by the dozen, while the surrounding hills afford 
an abundance of quails, deer, elk, and antelope. 

The inhabitants of the Pueblo are of the better and 
wealthier class of Oalifornians, and have always been 
strongly disposed towards the institutions of Mexico, and 
at the time of the conquest of California, they fought with 
a determined resistance against the naval forces of Com- 
modore Stockton. They have now, however, become re- 
conciled to the institutions of our country, and will, I doubt 
not, in a few years make as good a set of democrats as can 
be found in Missouri or Arkansas. They are very strongly 
attached to the Roman Catholic Church, and are probably 

13 



146 SAN DIEGO. 

the most "religious," in their acceptation of the term, of 
any people in California. Every morning the solemn toll 
of the church-bell calls them to mass ; at noon it is rung 
again, and every Poblano at the sound doffs his sombrero, 
and remains reverently uncovered in the hot sun, while the 
bell reminds him that he is to mutter over a short prayer. 
In whatever avocation they may be engaged, whether 
fiddling, dancing, singing, slaughtering cattle, or playing 
billiards or monte, the custom is invariably followed. I have 
seen a party in a tavern in the Pueblo, busily engaged in 
betting against a monte bank, when the noonday bell tolled ; 
a fellow, with his last dollar in the world placed upon a 
card, immediately doffed his hat and muttered his prayer ; 
the dealer laid down his cards and did the same, and they 
continued in their humble positions till the bell ceased toll- 
ing, when the game and the swearing went on as busily as 
usual. 

About ten miles from Los Angelos, is the mission of 
San Gabriel, located upon the river of that name, whose 
banks for miles are girdled with grape-vines. This is one 
of the prettiest spots in California, and affords a fine op- 
portunity for the raising of fruit. The country around the 
Pueblo is by far the most favourable portion of southern 
California for the settlement of foreigners. Possessing a 
climate of unequalled mildness, and a soil of great fertility, 
it must inevitably, ere long, be surrounded by a large 
population. 

SAN DIEGO. 

The town of San Diego is the southernmost of Upper 
-California, the boundary line established by the late treaty 
running one marine league south of it. The harbour here, 
next to that at San Francisco, is the best on the whole 



SAN DIEGO. 147 

coast, perfectly land-locked, protected from the gales at all 
seasons of the year, and the entrance is so narrow that but 
one vessel can pass through at the same time. A vessel 
can lie within a cable's length of the beach, which is of 
hard sand, and upon which no surf runs. The town itself 
lies three miles from the beach, is about the size of Santa 
Barbara, and is overlooked by an old Mexican fortress. 
San Diego has always been the greatest depot for hides 
upon the coast; the facilities for taking them from the 
shore to the vessel being greater than at any other point. 
The climate is mild and pleasant, and the town is rapidly 
growing, and bids fair to become of great commercial im- 
portance. An immense inland trade will be carried on 
from this place with the settlements that must arise on the 
Colorado and Gila rivers, and around the head of the Gulf 
of California. The country in its immediate vicinity is 
well adapted for grazing, and abounds in wild game. 



I 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE NEW TOWNS OF CALIFORNIA. 

The enormous price of real estate in San Francisco, and 
the continual rapid tide of emigration, will ere long cause 
the settlement of the new towns seated at various points 
in the vicinity of the mining region. Many of these are 
entirely new, but have grown and are growing with great 
rapidity. I propose giving a description of their locations 
as a guide to those who may desire to settle in any of 
them. 



BENICIA. 

The town or city of Benicia, which in the king's Eng- 
lish means Venice, is situated in the straits of Carquinez, 
thirty-five miles from San Francisco, which it promises yet 
to rival in point of commercial importance. The ground 
upon which it is seated is a gentle slope descending to the 
water, and as it reaches it becoming almost a plain. There 
is sufiicient water at its bank to enable vessels of the first 
class to lie at anchor there, and discharge their cargoes, 
and the harbour is safe and exempt from violent winds. 
Benicia contains already about a thousand inhabitants, 
including a garrison of soldiers, having been made the 
head-quarters of the Pacific division of the United States 

13* 



150 NEW YORK OF THE PACIFIC. 

Army. The large deposits of quartermaster's stores have 
been removed from San Francisco to Benicia, and a site 
has been selected by Commodore Jones for a navy-yard at 
this point. The town was originally laid out some three 
years since by Robert Semple and Thomas 0. Larkin. 
Lots of fifty varas square are selling at from five hundred 
to two thousand dollars. 



MARTINEZ. 

The town of Martinez is also located on the straits of 
Carquinez, nearly opposite Benicia. The site of the town 
is pleasant, being upon a high bank, while the plain around 
it is well wooded. The proprietor is William M. Smith of 
San Francisco, who is making arrangements for building 
the town. 

NEW YORK OF THE PACIFIC. 

At the junction of the river San Joaquin and the bay 
of Suisun, lies New York of the Pacific. The town is 
seated on a broad and well-watered plain, covered with 
many groves of magnificent oaks, extending from the 
waters of the bay and the river San Joaquin to the hills 
some three miles back. So gradual is the slope that it 
seems a perfect level, viewed from the river's bank ; but 
standing at the base of the hills looking toward the water, 
the slope will be found to be perfect and regular to the 
water's edge, where it terminates upon a fine sand-beach, 
from five to ten feet above the level of the highest tide. 
New York is beautifully laid out, with large reserves for 
churches, a university, and other public edifices, and is 
perhaps one of the most healthy points in the country, 



NEW YORK OP THE PACIFIC. 151 

being free from fever and ague and the prevailing fevers 
usual on fresh-water rivers below and between the mining 
region and San Francisco. But the great advantage which 
New York of the Pacific possesses over other places above 
San Francisco is, that it is at the head of ship navigation, 
as two regular surveys, published by distinguished military 
and naval officers of Suisun Bay have demonstrated. Ships 
of the largest class can sail direct from the ocean to New 
York, where they will find a safe and convenient harbour, 
and where at this time are lying a number of merchant 
ships from difierents parts of the Union, directly alongside 
the bank upon which they have discharged their cargoes. 

New York is surrounded on all sides by the most fertile 
agricultural districts of Northern California. The Sacra- 
mento, San Joaquin, and San Jose valleys being tributary 
to this point which is as the centre of so many radii, while 
the entire land travel from San Jos^ and the Contra Costa, 
and indeed of all southern California, flows through this 
channel. The whole transportation to the rich placers of 
the Stanislaus, Mokelumne, Tuolumne, Merced, and Mari- 
posa, as well as the famous mines of the Middle, North, 
and South Forks*, Feather and Yuba rivers, must pass 
the new city. The great railroad, destined to connect the 
Pacific Ocean and the Mississippi River, will undoubtedly 
terminate at New York, as it is in a direct line with the 
only pass in the mountains through which a railroad can 
reach the waters which empty into the Bay of San Fran- 
cisco. This is a fact well established by the most distin- 
guished engineers. Through the enterprise of Col. J. D. 
Stevenson and Dr. William C. Parker, both of the New 
York regiment of volunteers, the first survey of the bay of 
Suisun and the adjacent waters was made. These gentle- 
men are the principal owners of New York. 



152 SUTTER. 



SUISUN. 



The city of " Suisun," alluded to in the first chapter of 
this narrative under the cognomen of Hala-chum-muck, is 
laid out on the west bank of the Sacramento, at a distance 
of eighty miles from San Francisco, and is about half-way 
between San Francisco and Sacramento City. The town 
is seated on high ground, and is entirely free from the 
tule, a rush that grows upon the marshy banks of the 
river. It is beautifully laid out, with large reserves for 
churches, a university, and other public edifices, and the 
beauty of its climate and surrounding scenery will eventu- 
ally make it a favourable and pleasant place of residence. 
The proprietors are Thomas Douglass and C. V. Gillespie. 
Lots are selling at from |250 to $800. 

SUTTER. 

The city of Sutter is beautifully located on the eastern 
bank of the Sacramento River, adjoining Sacramento City, 
and is perhaps the most eligible site for a commercial town 
in all Northern California. It is situated on the highest 
and healthiest ground on the whole river, the banks at this 
point not being subject to the annual overflow. The largest 
class of steamboats and all vessels navigating the Sacra- 
mento River, can lie and discharge their cargoes directly 
at its banks. 

Sutter was originally laid out by Captain J. A. Sutter 
and others, but has not until recently been brought forward 
by its proprietors. It has, however, a thriving business 
population, and promises to become a city of the first size 
and importance. Excellent roads diverge from this point 
to the rich placers of the North, Middle, and South Forks, 



\ 



BOSTON. 153 

Bear River, Yuba, and Feather Rivers, and also to the 
mines of the San Joaquin. It is surrounded on all sides 
bj a fine agricultural and well-wooded country, and will 
soon be the depot for the great northern mines. Its pre- 
sent proprietors are the Hon. John M'Dougal, Lieutenant- 
Governor of the State of California, and Captain J. A. 
Sutter. 



VERNON. 

Vernon is situated on the east bank of Feather River at 
the point of its confluence with the Sacramento, one of the 
most eligible positions for a town in the whole northern 
region of California. The banks of the river are high and 
not subject to overflow, and this point is said to be at the 
head of ship navigation on the Sacramento. The ground 
is a gentle slope, surrounded by a beautiful country. From 
the town of Vernon, good and well travelled roads diverge 
to the rich mineral regions of the North and Middle Forks, 
Bear Creek, Yuba and Feather Rivers, rendering the dis- 
tance much less than by any other route. The town is 
growing rapidly, and promises to become a great depot 
for the trade of the above-mentioned mines. The pro- 
prietors are Franklin Bates, Elisha 0. Crosby, and Samuel 
Norriss. 

BOSTON. 

The city of Boston is located on the northern bank of 
the American Fork, at its junction with the Sacramento 
River, about one hundred yards above the old JEmharcadero, 
the site upon which Sacramento City now stands. It ex- 
tends upon the banks of both rivers for several miles, and 
is destined to become a flourishing town. The banks of the 



154 BOSTON. 

Sacramento at this point are not subject to overflow, being 
more than twelve feet in many places above high water 
mark. The town is situated upon a broad and well-watered 
plain, covered with many groves of magnificent oaks, and 
the largest class of steamers, and all vessels navigating the 
Sacramento River can lie and discharge directly at its 
banks. 

Boston has been surveyed by J. Halls, Esq., and Lieut. 
Ringgold, U. S. N., and is laid out in squares of two hun- 
dred and forty feet by three hundred and twenty feet, sub- 
divided each into eight building lots eighty feet by one 
hundred and twenty feet, with large public squares, and 
reservations for school-houses, churches, and public build- 
ings. One of the peculiar advantages of Boston is that, 
being located on the northern bank of the American Fork, 
it is not necessary in proceeding to the gold mines to cross 
that river, which is exceedingly high and rapid at some 
seasons of the year. The direct and most travelled road 
proceeds from this point to the rich placers of the Yuba, 
Eeather River, Bear Creek, and the North, Middle, and 
South Forks of the American. The soil is of the richest 
description, the surrounding scenery highly picturesque, 
and the plains in the immediate vicinity are covered with 
wild game of every variety which California affords. The 
title to the land is indisputable, coming by warranty deed 
from Captain J. A. Sutter to Eleab Grimes, Hiram Grimes, 
and John Sinclair, bearing date August 10th, 1843. The 
present owner is Hiram Grimes, Esq. Lots are selling 
rapidly at from $200 to $1000 each, and before many 
months the city of Boston on the golden banks of the Rio 
Sacramento will rival its New England namesake in busi- 
ness and importance. 



4 



STOCKTON. 155 



STOCKTON. 



The town of Stockton is the great mart through which 
flows the whole transportation and travel to the placers of 
the Stanislaus, Mokelumne, Mariposa, Mercedes, Tuolumne, 
and King's River, and the various dry diggings lying be- 
tween them. Stockton is to the southern mines what 
Sacramento is to the northern. The town is located upon 
a slough, or rather a succession of sloughs, which contain 
the back waters formed by the junction of the Sacramento 
and San Joaquin rivers. It is about fifty miles from the 
mouth of the San Joaquin, and one hundred from San 
Francisco. The ground is high and does not overflow, 
and is the centre of the two great tracts of arable land 
which constitute the valleys of the rivers above named. 
Vessels drawing from nine to ten feet of water can proceed 
up the San Joaquin to Stockton, and discharge their car- 
goes on the bank. 

The town of Stockton was laid out in the latter part of 
1848 by Charles M. Weber, and has been growing rapidly 
since. Eight montlis ago there were but one frame build- 
ing and a few tents, and now it is a town containing a 
population of nearly two thousand permanent residents, 
and a movable population of about a thousand more, on 
their way to and from the southern mines. Several large 
brigs and schooners are constantly lying at the banks, and 
two steamboats and a large number of launches are con- 
stantly running from San Francisco. Keal estate has risen 
greatly in value within the past six months, — lots, which 
could have been purchased at that time for $300, being 
now worth from $3000 to $6000. A theatre has been 
established at Stockton, and the town promises ere long to 
be a large and populous city. 



156 SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO. 



STANISLAUS. 

This town is laid out on the north bank of the Stanislaus 
River, at its junction "with the San Joaquin. The Stanis- 
laus River is the first and largest tributary of the San 
Joaquin, and the river is navigable for ordinary-sized 
schooners and launches to this point, which, being nearer 
the southern mining region than Stockton, will doubtless 
become a great resort for miners and traders in that 
vicinity. The town was originally laid out by Samuel 
Brannan & Co. 



SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO. 

The city of South San Francisco is located on the bay, 
about two miles south of San Francisco, which it promises 
to rival at no very distant day. The depth of water at 
this point is the same as that in the harbour of San Fran- 
cisco, and it is said that vessels are more securely protected 
from the wind. At many points in front of the town, 
vessels of the largest class can lie within a boat's length 
of the shore. The land rises in a gentle slope, and is of a 
rich clayey soil, which effectually prevents dust during the 
prevalence of the customary w^inds on the bay. The sur- 
rounding scenery is delightful, and near the town is the 
rich and beautiful valley in which is located the old mission 
of Dolores, A stream of fine water, sufficient to supply 
all the shipping in the harbour, runs through the town, 
and the only practicable road from San Francisco to San 
Jose, Monterey, and the whole lower country, passes 
directly by it. South San Francisco, though it may never 
equal its northern namesake, will at least become, at no 



ALVESO. 157 

very distant day, what Brooklyn is to New York. The 
proprietors of South San Francisco are John Townsend 
and Corneille De Boom. 



ALVESO. 

The want of a great commercial town at the head of the 
great bay of San Francisco has been supplied by the loca- 
tion of Alveso. It is situated at the head of the bay, 
on the Guadalupe River, a stream running directly through 
the centre of the town, and navigable at all seasons of the 
year to vessels drawing twelve feet of water. The depot 
and business headquarters of the two finest valleys in 
California, the Santa Clara and the Pueblo, where every- 
thing required for their already numerous population must 
be received ; convenient of access to the gold mines, and 
directly on the route between them and San Francisco ; 
with a climate unequalled, even in Upper California ; with 
pure water; free from inundations at all seasons; with mills 
which even now furnish lumber at one-third its price in 
San Francisco, — the town of Alveso must inevitably grow 
into importance. It has been carefully surveyed and laid 
out into lots ; contracts have been made for the immediate 
erection of warehouses and dwellings, and a bridge is now 
being built across the Guadalupe Biver, connecting the two 
portions of the town. The proprietors are J. D. Koppe, 
Peter H. Burnett, and Charles B. Marvin, who will doubt- 
less reap a rich harvest, the fruits of their judicious enter- 
prise. 



14 



CHAPTER'XV. 



LOWER CALIFORNIA. 



The territory of Lower California (California Baja) has 
been so much misrepresented, that although partially 
foreign to the object of this work, I consider it may not be 
uninteresting to learn something of a country which, I am 
satisfied, will one day create almost as much excitement in 
the old world as her northern sister has already done. A 
residence of six months upon the gulf of California entirely 
changed the opinion I had previously entertained of the 
country, which had been based upon reports of those who 
had merely sailed up or down its rugged coast. It has 
been described as the 'Hail end of an earthquake," — as pos- 
sessing a soil u'pon which nothing could be grown, a hot 
and sickly climate, and containing no internal resources 
of value. 

Lower California extends from Cape St. Lucas to a line 
running one marine league south of San Diego, being 
bounded on the west by the Pacific Ocean, and on the 
east by the gulf of California. I went to Lower California 
in the full g#iticipation of living a miserable life for the 
time it would be necessary for me to remain there. 
But how much was I surprised, on landing in La Paz, on 
the afternoon of July 21st, 1847, to find the prettiest town 
I had then seen in California. The streets were lined 
with willow trees, which, meeting overhead, formed an 
arch, affording a delicious shade at midday. The houses 



160 LOWER CALIFORNIA. 

were all of adobe, plastered white, and thatched with the 
leaves of the palm-tree, and were most delightfully cool. 
The whole beach was lined with palms, date, fig, tamarind, 
and cocoanut trees, their delicious fruits hanging upon 
them in clusters. 

The detachment of the 7th regiment of New York 
Volunteers, which was ordered to La Paz, consisted of 
two companies, "A" and "B," under command of Lieut. 
Col. Henry S. Burton. When we arrived, we found that 
country in a quiet state ; and although no American force 
had ever been stationed there, the inhabitants appeared 
very much pleased at our arrival, and manifested no hos- 
tility toward us. Our orders were to take possession of, 
and hold the country; and in accordance with these we 
landed, and pitched our camp in the plaza, previous to 
removing into a large barrack, which was not then quite 
completed. When our men were fairly barracked, the 
officers were allowed to live in rooms in the town, and 
select such places as they chose. I found a room in the 
house of Don Francisco Silva, a Portuguese, who had 
lived long in the country, and owned the finest vineyard 
and fruit-garden in the town. Here I lived in a style of 
Eastern luxuriance. Never before did I, and never shall 
I desire to enjoy life in greater perfection than I did there. 
My room was in the rear of the house, and fronting upon 
a garden filled with grape-vines, fig, orange, lime, banana, 
and pomegranate trees, loaded with fruit. I slept in a 
swinging cot, surrounded by a silken canopy, as a protec- 
tion from mosquitoes ; and often have I t^ken my cot> 
swung it before the limbs of a large fig-tree, and slept 
beneath that clear, unclouded sky, rocked to slumber by the 
delightful evening land-breeze. In the morning, before 
breakfast, I would pick from the limbs and eat a few 
dozens of ripe, fresh figs, by way of giving me an appetite. 
But the most delicious portion of this delicious life was the 



LOWEE CALIFORNIA. 161 

bathing. In the centre of the garden was a large stone 
reservoir, kept continually filled with water, and used for 
the purpose of irrigation. Into this I would jump at 
noon, and, standing upon the stony bottom, could gather 
big clusters of grapes, hanging upon an arbour that over- 
spread the whole bath. Our military duties were so light 
that they never interfered with this pleasant mode of life, 
particularly as our commanding officer was not very strict 
in his enforcement of them, and the reveille drum seldom 
disturbed my morning slumbers. 

If an epicure wishes to enjoy life at a low rate, I advise 
him to go to Lower California. The Gulf affords every 
variety of fish, and all the tropical fruits grow in the 
greatest profusion. For several months we lived upon 
green turtle, caught directly in front of the town, — -some of 
them weighed one hundred and fifty pounds, and were sold 
to us at twenty-five cents apiece. In addition to this, the 
shores afforded mussels and oysters in great plenty, and 
the soil produces every variety of vegetables. Among the 
fruits of Lower California is one which grows wild, and 
is peculiar to the country, called the i^etalla^ the most de- 
licious fruit I ever ate. It grows upon a kind of cactus 
tree, and somewhat resembles a prickly pear, being covered 
with a thorny rind, which, being taken off, exhibits a pulp 
of a rich red colour. The great peculiarity of this fruit 
is, that out of a hundred no two have the same flavour. 
One resembles in taste a strawberry ; another, seems fla- 
voured with winter-green ; the next with peach, and so on 
through the whole range of cultivated fruits. 

The climate of Lower California is equal to that of 
Italy or Persia. During the whole year, the thermometer 
never varies ten degrees, usually ranging from eighty to 
ninety degrees, except at noon, when it sometimes reaches 
one hundred. - In the winter, no other than thin clothing 

14* 



162 LOWER CALIFORNIA. ,4_ 

is worn, and an overcoat is never needed. It is an eternal 
summer. Such gorgeous sunsets and clear star-lit skies, 
can be found in no other portion of the world. During I 
my whole residence there, I never saw a cloud as large as 
my hand upon the sky, and a drop of rain never fell. There 
is no rainy season in Lower California ; rain usually falls 
three or four times in the course of a year, but the neces- 
sity of it is almost superseded by the heavy dews which 
fall every night. 

The healthiness of the country is remarkable. During 
our sojourn there of more than a year, no death from sick- 
ness occurred in our detachment of more than a hundred 
men, and but two deaths during the whole time in the 
town, which consisted of fifteen hundred inhabitants. An 
ofiicer of our regiment who was stationed in Upper Cali- 
fornia, and who had been pronounced by his physicians to 
be in the last stage of pulmonary consumption, as a last 
resort went to Lower California. The result was, that in 
three months he completely regained his health, and I saw 
him a few days since a stout, hearty man. 

The people of Lower California are a curious race of 
beings ; isolated from their mother country and neglected 
by her, they have assumed a sort of independence of 
thought and action which I never found in Upper Cali- 
fornia ; but a kinder-hearted, more hospitable class of 
people never lived. Their thatched houses are ever open 
for the reception of visiters, and a glass of wine and a 
paper cigar are always offered to any one who chooses to 
enter. The manner in which the people of La Paz live is 
peculiar. In the main street, the houses are built of adobe, 
whitewashed, with roofs principally of cane and palm-tree, 
laid flat and covered with the shell of the pearl oyster. 
Some of them are of more than one story in height. 
Some of the floors are laid with large square bricks, but 
by far the greater portion of them are of the native mud. 



LOWER CALIFORNIA. 163 

In the interior arrangement, little attention is paid to 
decoration. A few camp-stools covered with leather, or a 
drum-shaped seat with a piece of raw hide drawn over it, 
a table, a' bed, and an earthen jar filled with water, usu- 
ally compose the furniture. The bed is usually very neat, 
with clean linen sheets and curtains, with red satin covered 
pillows. In the other parts of the town and on the out- 
skirts, the houses are very small, some of them of adohe, 
others of reeds, plastered with mud, and others are no- 
thing more than a parcel of dried bushes intertwined. 
These generally contain but one room, with no more fur- 
niture than a few seats, and sometimes a bed made of a 
dried hide tightly drawn across four posts. Here father, 
mother, daughters, and sons, all lie down promiscuously 
on a hide stretched upon the floor, or, more commonly 
still, outside in the open air, and sleep heads and points in 
most admirable confusion. Indeed, this sleeping out of 
doors is not confined to any particular class, but is prac- 
tised by all during the summer months, and is really a de- 
lightful mode of passing the night. The men are gener- 
ally tall and well-formed, and dress in the manner of 
Mexicans of the same class. 

But the women, " Heaven's last, best work," how shall 
I describe them ? They are found in Lower California of 
all shades, from the blackest ebony to the whitest lily. 
Where such a variety of colour could have arisen, I cannot 
imagine. Their dress is usually a skirt, merely reaching 
to the waist, while above this, is a white bodice which does 
not reach quite so high in the neck as is required by the 
strict rules of feminine modesty. They wear no hats or 
bonnets, but in lieu of them a reboso is thrown around 
their heads, and falls in graceful folds over their shoulders. 
Many of them go barefoot, and very few wear stockings, 
considering them an unnecessary luxury. 

Simple as are these articles of dress, the La Paz girls 



164 LOWER CALIFORNIA. 

delight as much as their more refined sisters in our northern 
cities in exhibiting themselves to advantage. I have seen a 
fair senorita on her way to church, as barefooted as the day 
she first trod the earth, carrying on her shoulders a beau- 
tiful silk rehoso, which must have cost a hundred dollars. 
The ladies all indulge in the " amiable weakness" of smoking 
cigaritos, and the blue wreaths are curling about their dark 
faces from morning to night. The state of morals amongst 
them is as loose as their dress, and the poorer classes are 
sunk in the lowest state of prostitution. Cases have often 
occurred where the bargain for the daughter's dishonour 
has previously been made with the mother. Strange as 
this may appear in a country upon which the light of 
Christianity has shone, and among a people professing to 
be Christian, it is, nevertheless, strictly true. 

In fact the morals of the whole community, male and 
female, need improving. An old priest named Gabriel, who, 
at the time I was there, was Padre Presidente of Lower 
California, in open violation of his vows of chastity, was 
living in the family relation, and had been the means of 
bringing into the world no less than eleven children. One 
of these had taken his name, always travelled with him, 
and was himself studying for the priesthood. I witnessed 
a very amusing incident once with Gabriel, in which I bore 
a part, and which exhibits the peculiar state of morals 
among some of the priesthood of Mexican territory. Ga- 
briel was a most inveterate gambler, and often amused 
himself, when on his parochial tours, by opening a game of 
monte for any of his parishioners who chose to bet against 
him, although he often found difficulty in obtaining a game, 
because, as the '' knowing ones" said, "El padre sabe 
mucho." 

Soon after our arrival at La Paz, Gabriel, who resided in 
Todos Santos, came over to visit his flock in La Paz, and 
as we were then the lions of the place, he invited the offi- 



LOWER CALIFORNIA. 165 

cers to visit him at his temporary residence in the town. 
Soon after we entered, when he had brought out a bottle 
of good old wine, he very quietly took from a pocket in his 
cassock a pack of monte cards, and asked us if we had any 
objection to a quiet game. Out of courtesy we told him that 
we had no objection, and the padre commenced dealing 
and we betting. 

After our amusement had been in progress about half an 
hour, during which time the padre had beaten us to the 
amount of a few dollars, the bell of the church tolled. The 
padre laid down his cards and said with perfect noncha- 
lance: " Dispensarne Senores, tengo que bautizar un nine." 
(Excuse me, gentlemen, I have a child to baptize.) He 
invited us to proceed to the church with him, and when we 
arrived, we found a woman with a child anxiously waiting in 
the doorway. When, however, the padre was ready to com- 
mence operations, it was found that there was no one pre- 
sent to stand in the capacity of compadre (godfather). 
Gabriel invited me to perform this service. I told him I 
was not a Catholic. "No le hace," was his reply; and I 
accordingly stood at the baptismal font while the padre 
sprinkled the youngster and muttered over some Latin, 
after which, he turned to my companions and myself, and 
said, " Ahora, Senores, vamos a jugar otra verz." (Now, 
gentlemen, we will go and play again) ; and w^e accordingly 
returned to the house and resumed the game. Gabriel was 
afterwards taken prisoner by our forces and sent to Ma- 
zatlan. He was one of the leading spirits in the revolution 
that afterwards occurred, and I doubt not that he came to 
La Paz, at the time of w^hich I have spoken, to learn our 
force, and the probabilities of our being taken. 

Among such a people, ignorant but kind, and in such a 
glorious climate, I passed my days in happiness and plea- 
sure. When the shades of evening gathered around us, a 
little knot of us used to assemble beneath a spreading 



166 LOWER CALIFORNIA. 

tamarind tree, and listen to songs in the enclianting Spa- 
nish, sung by a beautiful creature who had undertaken the 
task of teaching me her 1 anguage, and in which, I flatter 
myself, she found an apt scholar. A ramble then upon 
the broad, hard beach, beneath that beautiful starlight, 
would close our evening's pleasures, or a dance upon a 
greensward in a grove of fig-trees, prepare us for a sweet 
slumber. 

Sometimes we took little excursions upon the broad and 
placid bay, and one of these, which extended to a visit to 
the Pearl Fishery, I will relate : 

On a clear, beautiful, moonlit night, in the latter part of 
October, a party of three of us, in a little fishing-boat, stood 
out from the Bay of La Paz, to proceed to the Pearl 
Fishery of San Lorenzo, about twenty miles distant. We 
chose the night, for its coolness, and for the delicious land 
breeze which blew our little boat so rapidly over the water, 
and afforded so pleasing a contrast in feeling to the burn- 
ing sun and stirless atmosphere of a tropical climate. 

To one who has never been buoyed on the waters of the 
Gulf of California, no description can convey an accurate 
idea of its stillness and beauty, when, at the close of the 
long, sunny day, it is resting beneath the smile of the un- 
clouded, starry sky, which is ever above it. Like a little 
inland lake in summer-time, unrippled and mirror-like, its 
waters were so clear that, even by moonlight, its shell-paved 
bottom was plainly discernible. Millions of little emerald- 
coloured gems of phosphorescent light, were floating over its 
bosom ; and the track of the leaping porpoises and golden 
dolphins was followed by a stream of liquid fire. 

As we neared " Pichelingo," the entrance to the har- 
bour, we observed on the beach, about a mile distant, a 
bright light, and as the land breeze was dying away, we 
made for it, thinking that probably a party of divers were 
there, on their way to the fishery. We stood in, and 



LOWER CALIFORNIA. 167 

soon reached the light, which we found to be a fire built 
on shore. We landed, hauled up our boat, and found two 
tall, naked Indians, engaged in cooking their evening meal 
of pozzoli, or boiled corn : they were tortoise-shell fishers, 
and had with them a large quantity of these most beautiful 
shells. They invited us to participate in their frugal meal, 
but we had provisions of our own, and, roasting some salt 
pork on their fire and brewing a steaming hot punch, we 
ate and drank sufficiently, spread our blankets on the sand 
and lay down to sleep by the side of our Indian friends. 
At daylight a good breeze sprang up, and, thanking our 
Indians for their hospitality and presenting each with a 
small sum of money, we again made sail. 

About 11 o'clock we rounded the low, sandy point, 
which forms one side of the entrance to the pretty little 
bay of San Lorenzo. We were received on the beach by 
about three hundred tall, black-looking Indians, prepared 
to start on their daily occupation of diving. Through the 
politeness of one of the "armadores," or owners, six of 
the busos (divers) were placed in our boat, and we pushed 
off for the fishing-ground, near the shore of the huge rocky 
island of Espiritu Santo, Thirty canoes, filled with divers, 
started with us, and in half an hour wo were on the ground. 
Here the water was the most beautifully clear I ever saw. 
It was some four or five fathoms in depth, but so trans- 
parent that the pearly treasures in its bed were as plain 
to our sight as though air only separated them from 
us. The divers divested themselves of every particle of 
clothing, with the exception of a girdle tightly bound 
round their loins, and armed with nothing but a sharp- 
pointed stick, about a foot in length, used for the double 
purpose of fighting sharks and digging up the shell, they 
commenced their labours. Startling up suddenly on the 
gunwale of the boat, and giving a shrill whistle, to expel 
the air from their lungs, with a dive as graceful as a 



168 LOWER CALIFORNIA. 

dolphin's leap, they plunged into the water, and made a 
straight course for the bottom. The dive itself carried 
them about two fathoms downward, and every subsequent 
stroke one fathom. Arrived at the bottom, they com- 
menced digging up the shell, and each one soon returned 
to the surface with an armful, which he threw into the boat, 
and then would dive again for a fresh load, and so they 
continued for nearly three hours, with scarcely a moment's 
intermission. Some brought up fish and sea-weed, others 
beautiful shells, and one fellow captured a small shark, 
which he threw into the boat, very much to the annoyance 
of us landsmen. 

These divers are Indians from the Slake River, in the 
province of Sonora, who come every season to the coast of 
California to pursue their avocation. About three o'clock 
the whole fleet started for the shore, and, arrived there, 
each huso carried his pile of shell on the beach, and the 
crew of each boat, forming a circle, threw into its centre 
one-half of their shells. These were the property of the 
armador^ and were first opened, and the pearls given to 
him. The old fellow stood by, watching the divers very 
closely, as some of them are exceedingly expert in suddenly 
swallowing any valuable pearl they may chance to find in 
the owner's pile. The pearls are found in the body of the 
oyster, of all sizes, from that of a pin's head to that of a 
walnut. Sometimes a hundred oysters are opened without 
finding a single pearl, while in others many are found. 
When the owner's oysters are all opened, each diver com- 
mences on his own pile ; and any valuable pearl he may find 
is usually sold to the armador on the spot, at about one- 
half its real value. 

The pearl fisheries of Lower California have been carried 
on since the earliest discovery of the country, and immense 
fortunes have been made in them. There are at present 
about one hundred vessels yearly engaged in this business 



LOWER CALIFORNIA. 169 

during the fishing season, which continues from May to 
November. The oysters are all taken by diving, no scien- 
tific apparatus having yet been successfully introduced. A 
diving-bell was tried by an English company some years 
ago, but this mode was soon abandoned, from some cause 
which I could never learn. The shells of the oysters are 
piled up on the beach, and sold to whalers and trading 
vessels that visit the coast. 

The oysters being all opened, the divers take their first 
meal in the day, which consists of nothing more than a 
bowl of atole, a kind of water-gruel, with a little dried meat 
thrown into it. This, and the use of the boats, is all that 
is furnished by the armador^ for which he receives one-half 
the pearls. 

It was the last day of the fishing season, and before we 
left, as was always the custom, the little brush houses, 
temporarily thrown up on the beach, were fired by the 
divers, and a general jubilee held. We left them in the 
most glorious state of intoxication, and setting sail once 
more, after spending another night on the beach of Piche- 
lingo, we arrived safely in La Paz the next day at noon. 

The great resotirces of Lower California are its mines of 
silver, gold, copper, and iron, the former metal being most 
abundant. The whole mountain range, which extends along 
the coast, is one immense silver mine, equal in richness to 
those of Mexico or Peru. At the present time only three 
or four mines are wrought, owing to the lack of energy in 
the inhabitants, and the entire absence of scientific mining 
apparatus, — all the necessary labour being performed by 
men and mules. In making inquiries for a place to search 
for silver in Lower California, the old settlers in reply 
merely point their fingers to the mountain range, and say, 
"Por hay" (that way, anywhere there); and it is a fact, 
that a shaft may be sunk in any part of the mountains, 
and silver ore always extracted, varying in richness from 

15 



170 LOWER CALIFORNIA. 

fifteen to seventy per cent, of pure silver. The principal 
silver mines at present wrought are in San Antonio, half- 
way from La Paz to Cape St. Lucas. These are owned 
by the Hidalgos, who send annually out of the country 
about two hundred thousand dollars worth oi plata i^ina. 

Near Loretto are large and extensive copper mines; 
lead and iron are found everywhere, and gold-washings 
have always been wrought in the country with considerable 
success. If this territory ever becomes settled by an 
energetic population, millions of wealth will be annually 
gathered in its borders, and it will stand side by side in 
point of riches with the countries that have already made 
themselves famous by the wealth lying in their bosoms. 

As an agricultural country Lower California is rather 
deficient, although there are many watered valleys which 
produce in great profusion all the common culinary vege- 
tables, and wherever the soil can be irrigated, it produces 
all the tropical fruits and the vegetables of the temperate 
zones in great luxuriance. Cotton of the finest staple grows 
wild upon the plains around La Paz, and cane, from which 
a very good article of sugar is made, grows all over the 
land. Wine is made from the grape of the country, 
which is of the most delicious kind. 

When we went to Lower California, our orders were to 
assure the inhabitants that their country was to be retained 
as a portion of the territory of the United States. The 
message of President Polk and the proclamation of Com- 
modore Shubrick supported this idea, and upon the repre- 
sentations thus made, the most influential inhabitants com- 
mitted themselves to the American cause, and were exceed- 
ingly gratified with the expected result. In the month of 
November, we were attacked by a Mexican force of six 
hundred, under command of Don Manuel Pineda, a captain 
in the Mexican army, who published a long proclamation 
threatening death and destruction to the Californians who 



LOWER CALIFORNIA. 171 

supported our cause. Notwithstanding this, during a severe 
and trying siege, which lasted six weeks, many of the ran- 
clieros from the interior came in and joined us, and for this 
whole time a company of native Californians, under the 
command of the former governor of the territory, Don 
Francisco Palaceo, fought bravely with us and rendered us 
essential service, with the expectation that at the close of 
the war they would be protected by us. But what was 
their consternation when, upon the reception of the news 
of the treaty of peace, it was found that they had been 
forgotten, and that after the promises which had been made, 
we were obliged to desert them and leave them to the vora- 
city of their Mexican masters, by whom they are now of 
course viewed in the light of traitors to their country. 

Never in the history of wars among civilized nations 
was there a greater piece of injustice committed, and the 
United States government deserves for it the impreca- 
tions of all who have a sense of justice remaining in 
them. The probability is, that some ignorant scribbler, 
who had cast his eyes upon the rugged rocks that girdle 
her sea-cOast, had represented Lower California as a worth- 
less country, and^that, forgetting justice and good faith, our 
government left this compromised people to suffer at the 
hands of their own brethren. The result was that many 
of them were obliged to fly from their country and go to 
Upper California, their property was confiscated and they 
can never return to their homes but with the brand of 
traitors resting upon them. 

It is the duty of our government to repair if possible the 
wrong thus done. Lower California must at some time 
inevitably be a territory of the United States. It is a 
peculiarity of the Yankee race that, like the western farmer, 
they only want to possess '^ all the land that joins them;" 
and this country, isolated as it is from Mexico, inhabited 
by a people who heartily hate the institutions of their 



172 LOWER CALIFORNIA. 

mother country, neglected by her, and lying in such close 
contiguity to our possessions on the Pacific coast, must fall 
into our hands, and, instead of being a worthless territory, 
we should find it our greatest acquisition on the Pacific. 
The gulf of California is one of the finest sheets of water 
in the world, and the inner coast is indented with many 
safe and land-locked harbours. The bay of La Paz is safe 
and large, and the establishment of a naval depot at this 
point would keep in check the whole western coast of 
Mexico. Mexico does not desire this territory, and no 
people were ever more anxious for a separation from the 
mother country than are the inhabitants of Lower Cali- 
fornia. It would be an easy purchase, and if necessary 
an easy conquest, and unless it is done by the general 
government, a second Texas aff'air will occur there before 
many years pass. When Upper California becomes more 
thickly populated, and the progress westward is stopped 
by the surges of the Pacific, the northern territory of 
Oregon being already ours, the progress must inevitably 
be southward, and even now ideas are entertained of seizing 
the country. 

In order to prevent the disastrous consequences which 
must ensue from a re-enaction of the Texas tragedies, and 
to render justice to a people whose confidence has been 
abused by our government, I would respectfully recom- 
mend to the home government the immediate commence- 
ment of negotiations for the purchase of this valuable and 
interesting territory. The appointment of commissioners 
to report upon its resources and its value in a naval point 
of view, would be speedily followed by its purchase, and 
thus would be prevented the piratical expeditions for the 
seizure of the country which otherwise will soon be under- 
taken. 

THE END. 



